The most notorious poet-critic of his generation, William Logan has defined our view of poets good and bad, interesting and banal, for more than three decades. Featured in the New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement, and the New Criterion, among other journals, Logan’s eloquent, passionate prose never fails to provoke readers and poets, reminding us of the value and vitality of the critic’s savage art. Like The Undiscovered Country: Poetry in the Age of Tin, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, Our Savage Art features the corrosive wit and darkly discriminating critiques that have become the trademarks of Logan’s style. Opening with a defense of the critical eye, this collection features essays on Robert Lowell’s correspondence, Elizabeth Bishop’s unfinished poems, the inflated reputation of Hart Crane, the loss of the New Critics, and a damning-and already highly controversial-indictment of an edition of Robert Frost’s notebooks. Logan also includes essays on Derek Walcott and Geoffrey Hill, two crucial figures in the divided world of contemporary poetry, and an attempt to rescue the reputation of the nineteenth-century poet John Townsend Trowbridge. Short reviews consider John Ashbery, Anne Carson, Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Louise Gluck, Jorie Graham, Robert Hass, Seamus Heaney, and dozens of others. Though he might be called a cobra with manners, Logan is a fervent advocate for poetry, and Our Savage Art continues to raise the standard of what the critic can do.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Logan’s prose is polished, witty, authoritative, and courageous…. Highly recommended.–Choice
Arguably the most industrious and notorious poet-critic to brandish that hyphen like a knife between his teeth since his acknowledged master Randall Jarrell…. He often comes off as nothing so much as the Dirty Harry of the poetry beat.–David Barber, New York Times Book Review
One of the wittiest and most astute poet-critics of our–or any–generation…. A work of devilish wit, arrogance, insight, and intellect.–Rory Waterman “The Dark Horse “
The latest installment in William Logan’s prolonged and rambunctious assault on the state of American poetry.–Mark Ford “New York Times Book Review “
There is a grain of truth in almost everything [Logan] writes.–Jordan Davis “Times Literary Supplement “
Who’s the Best Poetry Critic in America? His name I can mention. William Logan.–James Wolcott
From the Back Cover
Praise for The Undiscovered Country: Poetry in the Age of Tin
“Our wittiest critic of contemporary verse lets loose one lethal shaft after another.”-James Marcus, Newsday
“Logan has firmly established himself as the pit bull of mainstream poetry reviewers.”-Maureen N. McLane, Chicago Tribune
Praise for Desperate Measures
“When it comes to separating the serious from the fraudulent, the ambitious from the complacent, Logan has consistently shown us what is wheat and what is chaff…. The criticism we remember is neither savage nor mandarin…. There is no one in his generation more likely to write it than William Logan.”-Adam Kirsch, Oxford American
Praise for William Logan
“Who’s the Best Poetry Critic in America? His name I can mention. William Logan, who must be tired of being compared to Randall Jarrell, but such is one’s fate when one writes as wickedly, knowledgeably, and uncompromisingly as he does.”-James Wolcott
“Arguably the most industrious and notorious poet-critic to brandish that hyphen like a knife between his teeth since his acknowledged master Randall Jarrell…. He often comes off as nothing so much as the Dirty Harry of the poetry beat.”-David Barber, The New York Times Book Review
“William Logan is the best practical critic around.”-Christian Wiman, Poetry
“Is there today a more stringent, caring reader of American poetry than William Logan? Reputations of the Tongue may, at moments, read harshly. But this edge is one of deeply considered and concerned authority. A poet-critic engages closely with his masters, with his peers, with those whom he regards as falling short. This collection is an adventure of sensibility.”-George Steiner
About the Author
William Logan is the author of nine volumes of poetry and five books of criticism, including The Undiscovered Country, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. He has received the Randall Jarrell Award in Poetry Criticism from the Poetry Foundation, as well as the Citation for Excellence in Reviewing from the National Book Critics Circle, the Corrington Medal for Literary Excellence, and numerous awards for his poetry. He teaches at the University of Florida.
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