Listening to Studies in Classic American Literature
This article argues that the final version of Studies in Classic American Literature is performative and meant to be “heard.” Building on Marjorie Perloff’s essay from the mid-80s on the performative quality of the Birds, Beasts and Flowers poems, I discuss the sonic quality of Lawrence’s writing wh...
Enregistré dans:
| Dans: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/lawrence, |
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| Auteur principal: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Langue: | Anglais |
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Études Lawrenciennes
2025
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| Accès en ligne: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Résumé: | This article argues that the final version of Studies in Classic American Literature is performative and meant to be “heard.” Building on Marjorie Perloff’s essay from the mid-80s on the performative quality of the Birds, Beasts and Flowers poems, I discuss the sonic quality of Lawrence’s writing which features prancing, loud-as-can-be capital letters, for instance. I compare the first version of the Franklin essay with the final version—and also the “intermediate” version of “Whitman” (1919) with the final version. They both began as rather academic essays but the many revisions make the imagined voice of the author somehow audible throughout. The aural quality and style of the essays certainly disconcerted some reviewers of the book: “If upon the subject properly in hand he writes like a man of insight and a clever workman with the edged tools of language, the next sentence might often be composed by a gum-chewing Main Street soda-fountain cut-up or a blear-eyed, bar-room bum.” |
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