The Spanish American Roots of William Carlos WilliamsAs David Ignatow's foreword notes, the time is ripe for a multicultural canonical modernist, and Marzan himself, a poet with Puerto Rican roots, has produced an insightful study of Williams' sometimes hidden, sometimes obvious debt to his Spanish American heritage. At the same time, Marzan raises serious questions about how 'ethnic' literature shapes the modern canon. --American Literature I have been waiting for some time for a study of Williams's Latin American roots, and this book fills that bill. . . . It's a significant addition to the Williams canon. --Paul Mariani, author of William Carlos Williams: A New World Naked William Carlos Williams wrote from an all-encompassing American vision that recalls the spirit of Walt Whitman. Paradoxically, though, this most-American poet sprang from foreign roots--a Puerto Rican mother and a father who was an English-born Caribbean islander. In this poetically evocative work, Julio Marzan explores the Latin American roots of Williams' poetry. In particular, he focuses on the dualities and contradictions between Williams' public, North American persona, Bill, and his private, poetically encrypted Latin persona, Carlos. He shows how Williams' poetry draws on Latin American and Spanish sources, particularly the poetry of Spaniard Luis de Gongora, to encode a Latin subtext in poems that ostensibly present a mainstream, Anglo vision. These explorations uncover a wealth of complexity in Williams and his poetry. Reflecting the experience of many immigrants, his life and work embody the unreconcilable desires to assimilate and win acceptance in a new land while remaining separate and immersed in the beloved culture of one'sbirth. A published poet, Julio Marzan is also editor of Inventing a Word: An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Puerto Rican Poetry. |
Contents
A Cubist Portrait | 1 |
The Female Totem | 42 |
Alter Images | 95 |
Translations Imaginary and Real | 124 |
Bloodline Poetic Line | 164 |
Inherited Souls | 194 |
The Music of Stasis | 229 |
Epilogue Conversation on the Weather | 259 |
Abbreviations Used | 267 |
Notes | 269 |
| 277 | |
| 281 | |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetics alter image American Grain Anglo American artist Autobiography background balance bicultural Bill Bill's Caribbean catalogue chapter conceptista consciousness CPII critics cubism cultural cure Desert Music Driscoll Elena encoded English essay ethnic evokes Ezra Pound father Federico García Lorca female Flores flower foreign French Góngora Henna Hoheb identified identity imagery imaginary translation imagination imagistic immigrants José Juan Gris Kora language Latin American letter liams literary lived Lorca Luis Luis de Góngora Luis Palés Matos Mariani Martí metaphor mingling mother painters painting Palés Matos Paterson person Philip and Oradie Picasso play poem poet poet's poetic poetry Pound Puerto Rico Quevedo Quiere Quintana racial reader Rican romantic roots secret sense sensuality sexual Shakespeare Spanish literature Spanish poetry Spanish-speaking speak spirit spoke stasis Stevens story style symbol tells thing tion tribute weather William Carlos Williams William George woman words writing wrote