From Publishers Weekly
Rexroth (1905-1982) saw the modern poet as the enemy of the privileged and the powerful, since poetry is disruptive to rigid systems and ideas. In these pieces, he finds ties between Dylan Thomas's lyrics and Charlie Parker's saxophone solos, reads D. H. Lawrence's free verse as an odyssey of personal salvation and portrays Rimbaud as a capitalist adventurer. Twenty-seven essays bristle with Rexroth's wit and wide-ranging intellect. Whether he is unravelling the close links between Jewish mysticism and Gnostic sects, or satirizing the hippies' sell-out to conspicuous consumption, Rexroth challenges conventional dogma and makes startling connections. This poet-critic tweaks the American poetry establishment. He analyzes the police as a socially isolated group and looks at alienation in all facets of American life. This companion volume to his earlier essay collections, Bird in the Bush and Assays, is a literary event. Morrow is Rexroth's literary executor. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Remembered best for his poetry, Rexroth (1905-82) was also a writer of vigorous views on a broad range of topics. These 25 essays, written from 1936 to 1977, represent the antiestablishment stance of the "West Coast Movement" as formulated by one of its leading partisans. Although the essays span a period of 40 years, most treat topics commonly associated with the 1960s. Beyond their polemics, they express important ethical and artistic concerns and interests that remain unresolved, ranging from "The Fucntion of the Poet in Society" (1936) and "Who Is Alienated from What?" (1970). Recommended for general collections, particularly those emphasizing modern writers.Walter Waring, Emeritus Professor of English, Kalamazoo Coll., Mich.Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This book brings together twenty-seven essays written over a period of more than forty years by the man one of his publishers called 'an American cultural monument.'

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Rexroth (1905-1982) saw the modern poet as the enemy of the privileged and the powerful, since poetry is disruptive to rigid systems and ideas. In these pieces, he finds ties between Dylan Thomas's lyrics and Charlie Parker's saxophone solos, reads D. H. Lawrence's free verse as an odyssey of personal salvation and portrays Rimbaud as a capitalist adventurer. Twenty-seven essays bristle with Rexroth's wit and wide-ranging intellect. Whether he is unravelling the close links between Jewish mysticism and Gnostic sects, or satirizing the hippies' sell-out to conspicuous consumption, Rexroth challenges conventional dogma and makes startling connections. This poet-critic tweaks the American poetry establishment. He analyzes the police as a socially isolated group and looks at alienation in all facets of American life. This companion volume to his earlier essay collections, Bird in the Bush and Assays, is a literary event. Morrow is Rexroth's literary executor. (May)

Library Journal