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Upper Limit Music: The Writing of Louis Zukofsky

1998; University of Chicago Press; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/25304287

2327-5804

Tom Fisher, Louis Zukofsky, Mark Scroggins,

Poetry Analysis and Criticism

Upper Limit Music: Writing of Louis Zukofsky. Ed. Mark Scroggins. University of Alabama Press, 1997. work of Louis Zukofsky has for some time eluded radar of our more central critical institutions and agencies. same, of course, can be said for many writers. Zukofsky, however, is unusual in his work has circulated so vigorously and been hailed so radiantly for so many years by poets themselves. It is because of this Zukofsky has been called a poet's poet. removal from domain of nominative, as one poet has critically described such characterization, referring to perception Zukofsky always appears as only a poet other poets read. Yet certainly work of Kenner, Davenport, Quartermain, Commens, Ahearn, Perloff and Leggott (to name a few) show him to be substantially enough a critic's poet. And of thirteen essayists in this latest edition of Zukofsky criticism, fewer than half identify themselves as practicing poets, furthering Zukofsky's encroachment into an arena more exclusively of critic. question is, perhaps, should we celebrate what now seems a restoration to domain of nominative? It is within this brief but stable tradition of Zukofsky scholarship Upper Limit Music should be considered. From its title we expect book to take as its subject upper of Zukofsky's self-defined poetic (Lower limit speech / Upper limit music), end of his writing which approaches condition of music, that order which speaks to all men. Mark Scroggins, in his introduction, clarifies how such a range guides readings of Zukofsky: The limits of a mathematical integral of course are asymptotic points can be approached but reached. Zukofsky's poetry, then, an integral whose limits are speech and music, moves between realm of koine -of common, information-bearing communication -- and purely musical where words are deployed wholly without regard for meanings but interact (and give pleasure) through sound alone (4). While Scroggins carefully makes clear such limits exist as points never reached, it is less clear how Zukofsky's poetry is imagined to occupy range between its end-limits. Often, it seems, we tend to think of Zukofsky's work as divided, approaching one or other of his self-defined poetic limits, but both. Thus dust-jacket of Complete Short Poetry proclaims these poems are absolute clarification while of A exclaims his work the most hermetic in English. communicativeness of speech or hermeticism of music: this is danger of engaging too enthusiastically poetic Zukofsky offers. …