Prepositions: The Collected Critical Essays, published first in 1967 and then in an expanded edition in 1981, was a definitive set of critical statements by Louis Zukofsky, one of the most important poets of the 20th century. These central expositions of Zukofsky's own poetics, and enduring examinations of the art of poetry, range over the entire length of Zukofsky's career and include sensitive and prescient readings of Henry Adams, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, E. E. Cummings, and others.
Prepositions + brings this essential collection back into print, and adds generous selections of Zukofsky's uncollected prose, most notably the crucial 5 Statements for Poetry. Published in a small edition in 1958 and out of print ever since, 5 Statements gathers the essays that Zukofsky felt best presented his own poetics. Among them are the three essays, in their original and expansive forms, that crystallized the Objectivist movement of the early 1930s. Prepositions + also includes an extended in-depth interview in which Zukofsky discusses his poetry and poetics.An indispensable collection of an avant-garde poet's literary essays.Foreword – Charles Bernstein Prefatory Note FOR Poetry/For My Son When He Can Read An Objective A Statement for Poetry For Wallace Stevens WITH Golgonzooná? William Carlos Williams The Effacement of Philosophy Modern Times Lewis Carroll Ezra Pound Him Henry Adams/A Criticism in Autobiography With Little/For Careenagers ABOUT Influence Poetic Values American Poetry 1920-1930 Dometer Guczul Basic Work/Sundown Bottom, a weaver Found Objects (1962-1926) About the Gas Age Index to Definitions LOUIS ZUKOFSKY ADDITIONAL PROSE Introduction- Mark Scroggins STATEMENTS FOR POETRY (1958) Foreword Program: “Objectivists” 1931 (from Poetry, February 1931) “Recencies” in Poetry (a talk, printed in An &lĂ'