Robert Lowell In Context

This volume explores the various contexts of Robert Lowell's life and work. It evaluates his oeuvre from new, untried perspectives.

Thomas Austenfeld (Edited by), Grzegorz Kość (Edited by)

9781009465717, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 4 April 2024

338 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.6 cm, 0.66 kg

'With its comprehensive references, readings, and suggestions for further study, both experts and new readers of Lowell's poetry will find a great deal of enlightening material in this collection.' Matthew Scully, Twentieth-Century Literature

Robert Lowell was one of the most influential American poets of the 20th century. This volume explores the various contexts of Lowell's life and work and evaluates his oeuvre from new perspectives. Individual chapters address his relation to the South, his religious evolution, aspects of his marriages and private life, his bipolar disorder seen through new theories of mental illness, his work as a letter writer and a connoisseur of art and photography. The book also introduces new parameters for a contemporary study of Lowell, commenting on current debates about race and privilege, feminism, ecoconsciousness, his engagement with the natural environment as well as his friendships with Randall Jarrell and Robert Penn Warren.

Contributors
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction. Robert Lowell in Context
Part I. Places: 1. Boston Grzegorz Kosc
2. The American south Joseph Kuhn
3. New York Jeffrey Gray
4. England and Ireland Tony Roberts
Part II. American Politics, American Wars: 5. War Walt Hunter
6. US presidency Alex Runchman
7. Ecoconsciousness Adam Beardsworth
Part III. Some Literary Models: 8. Classics John Talbot
9. Melville Stephen Matterson
10. Plaints Meg Tyler
Part IV. Contemporaries: Modernists and Beyond: 11. T. S. Eliot Stephen Regan
12. Ezra pound Richard Parker
13. John Berryman Philip Coleman
14. Warren and Jarrell Joan Romano Shifflett
15. Elizabeth Bishop Thomas Travisano
Part V. Life, Illness, and the Arts: 16. Religion Thomas Austenfeld
17. Marriage Lucy Collins
18. Desensationalizing madness Astrid Franke
19. Photography Anita Helle
20. Painting Diederik Oostdijk
Part VI. Reputation and New Contexts: 21. Letters Calista McRae
22. Whiteness Nikki Skillman
23. Appropriation Hannah Baker Saltmarsh
24. 'Raw' poets Andrew Epstein
25. Lowell's influence Steven Gould Axelrod
26. Language and post-language poets Kacper Bartczak
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]