Muriel Rukeyser and Documentary

Catherine Gander is Associate Professor of American Literature at Maynooth University, Ireland. Her books include Muriel Rukeyser and Documentary: The Poetics of Connection (2013; Irish Association for American Studies biennial book prize winner), The Edinburgh Companion to Don DeLillo and the Arts (2023), Mixed Messages: American Correspondences in Visual and Verbal Practices (2016; co-edited with Sarah Garland), Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser (2026; co-edited with Stefania Heim), and the poetry sequence Matches (2024).

• Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. The Photo-text; 3. The Lives; 4. Documentary and the emergence of American Studies; 5. Landscape, navigation and cartography; 6. Conclusion; Illustrations; Sources Cited; Index.

This especially rich work takes on Rukeyser's uses of documentary forms (filmic, photographic, journalistic, historical, biographical) to argue for their persistence throughout her career. It is presented with patient clarity and substantial archival research which underpin agile conceptualisations and powerful close readings of the poetry.