Bücher der Reihe Recencies Series: Research and Recovery in Twentieth-Century American Poetics

The correspondence of Robert Duncan and Charles Olson is one of the foundational literary exchanges of twentieth-century American poetry. More than a literary correspondence, An Open Map gives insight into an essential period of poetic advancement in cultural history.

Edited by poet and scholar Ryan Dobran, this volume of correspondence between the American poet Charles Olson (1910-1970) and the English poet J. H. Prynne (b. 1936) sheds light on a little-known but incredibly influential aspect of twentieth-century transatlantic literary culture. Never before published, the letters capture their shared passion for knowledge as well as their distinct writing styles. Written between 1961 and Olson's death in 1970, the letters display the mutual admiration and intimacy that developed between the two poets after Prynne initiated their exchange when pursuing work for the literary magazine Prospect. This work illustrates how Olson and Prynne influenced each other, and it represents an important step toward understanding their contributions to poetics on both sides of the Atlantic.

In February 1978, the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E newsletter established the first public venue for the thriving correspondence of an emerging set of ambitious young poets. This volume makes available in print all twelve of the newsletter's original issues along with three supplementary issues.

Conceived in 1976 and published in 1980, LEGEND exemplifies the political and linguistic commitments of then-nascent Language writing. The twenty-six poems of the volume bring together every possible permutation of collaborative authorship in one-, two-, three-, and five-author combinations.