Selected Writings of Charles Olson

"In any discussion of contemporary poetics, the name of Charles Olson will almost inevitably come to the fore. An iconoclastic and controversial figure, Olson has developed theories on the writing and understanding of poetry which place him, historically, as a bridge between the first leaders of the modern movement, such as Pound and Williams, and some of the most important later innovators. This collection, drawn from many earlier books, presents Olson in the dual role of poet and theoretician. It offers a generous selection of his poetry, including his work-in-progress, The Maximus Poems. From Olson's prose writings, we have the epoch-making essay on "Projective Verse". First published in 1950, this revolutionary statement may well come to rank, as a Literary milestone, with those of Pound on Imagism and Williams on the American Idiom for poetry. There are also the perspective essay on Shakespeare's verse in the late plays, and "Human Universe," which stems from Olson's deep interest in the context of Mayan Culture as contrast to the "existential" situation of our own. The book also includes "Apollonius of Tyana,' a background script for an original dance play, and the complete text of "Mayan Letters," long out of print, a provocatively informal instance of the range and content of Olson's intelligence."-Publisher