Verbal Art

Studies in Poetics

By: Nathaniel Tarn

Write A Review

Paperback | 4 June 2007

At a Glance

Paperback
284 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.63

Paperback

$38.50

or 4 interest-free payments of $9.63 with

or

Ships in 5 to 7 business days

This book has two main subjects which are interwoven: the attitudes of selected poets (including Neruda, Rilke, Breton, Celan, and Artaud) to the "primitive" and the "archaic," studied from an anthropologist's viewpoint; and a model of the processes whereby poetry is produced and received, built on the author's successful careers as both poet and anthropologist. The book includes detailed biographical information about how Tarn went from being a French to an English to an American poet. It also reveals the effect of a double career and of these moves on a unique body of poetry and theoretical work. An extremely substantial interview, serving also as an introduction to, and discussion of, the essays, demonstrates that there is nothing like this work to be found elsewhere.

Industry Reviews

"Tarn as proven himself to be one of the most demanding and exacting of poetry's anthropologists. If his particular blend of density, polymathism, and accessibility have slipped him through the cracks of critical and popular attention, his investigations in The Embattled Lyric provide an entryway into the contexts of Tarn's poetics, and from there into his poetry." - Rain Taxi "Tarn's poetry and criticism is remarkable for its expansiveness and willingness to absorb material from disparate sources and disciplines. This book takes the reader on a journey with both Tarn the anthropologist and Tarn the poet/thinker absorbed in the intellectual currents of the late twentieth century." - The Use of English "The Embattled Lyric is written from the viewpoint of a poet/anthropologist, a series of bright essays on Celan, Paz, Huidobro, and others." - The Age

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $89.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

More in Non-Fiction Prose

Togetherness

Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$29.75

20%
OFF

Alexander

God, King, Man

Paperback

RRP $39.99

$31.75

21%
OFF

Diddly Squat

The Farmer's Dog

Paperback

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF

There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness

Paperback

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF

Ghost Stories

A Memoir - 'What a kind, honest book. What a gift of love' David Mitchell

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$28.99

17%
OFF

How to Kill a Language

A Story of Power, Resistance and the Race to Save Our Words

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$28.75

18%
OFF

Women Who Win

Celebrating courage, conviction and change

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$29.99

19%
OFF

We Should All be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

$69.75

29%
OFF

What If?

Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF

Notes on Nationalism : Penguin Modern - George Orwell

$22.99

15%
OFF

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$26.99

18%
OFF

Empire of Pain

The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Paperback

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF

Nexus

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

Paperback

RRP $29.99

$24.99

17%
OFF

The Ruin of Magic

Longing and Belonging in Strange Times

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$29.99

19%
OFF

Backstage

Stories of a writing life

Paperback

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF

The Land and its People

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$26.99

18%
OFF

London Falling

A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$29.99

19%
OFF

All the Way to the River

My Story of Love, Loss and Liberation

Paperback

RRP $34.99

$17.50

50%
OFF

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Penguin Modern Classics

Paperback

RRP $29.99

$18.99

37%
OFF

Earthquake

the election that shook Australia

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$18.50

50%
OFF

The Mushroom Tapes

ABIA 2026 GENERAL NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER

Paperback

RRP $36.99

$25.99

30%
OFF

The Strange Death of Europe

Immigration, Identity, Islam

Paperback

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF

Preface	p. vii
Toward Any America Whatsoever
Toward Any Geography/Toward Any America Whatsoever	p. 3
Child as Father to Man in the American Uni-Verse or Dr. Jekyll, the Anthropologist, Emerges and Marches into the Notebook of Mr. Hyde, the Poet	p. 9
Auto-Anthropology
Andre Breton, Anthropology, and the Limits of Culture	p. 49
Newly Saying the Already Said: An Attached Comment in Honor of Keiji Nishitani	p. 55
Pablo Neruda and Indigenous Culture	p. 61
On Paul Celan	p. 67
Vicente Huidobro: Some Notes among Altazors	p. 73
Michel Leiris, Timor Mortis, and the Peopled Self: A Reading of L 'Afrique Fantome as Auto-Anthropology	p. 77
The Search for the "Primitive" Outside and Inside: The Ethnopoetics of Antonin Artaud, with Notes on William Carlos Williams	p. 90
Translation/Antitranslation // Culture/Multiculture: Some Contradictions?	p. 102
Octavio Paz, Anthropology, and the Future of Poetry	p. 115
Exile out of Silence into Cunning
Initiation and the Paradox of Power: A Sociological Approach	p. 125
The Heraldic Vision: Some Cognitive Models for Comparative Aesthetics	p. 132
Archaeology, Elegy, Architecture: A Poet's Program for Lyric	p. 157
The Choral Voice: A Diptych re Anthropology and Poetry	p. 179
Exile out of Silence into Cunning: Being Notes on Elsewhere and the Myths of Presence	p. 187
Regarding the Issue of "New Forms"	p. 193
On Refining a Model of Poetic Production	p. 205
Critical Study and Interview
On Anthropology & Poetry: An Interview with Nathaniel Tarn	p. 221
Index of Names and Places	p. 263
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Verbal Art

Studies in Poetics

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Non-Fiction Prose

Togetherness

Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations

Alexander

God, King, Man

Diddly Squat

The Farmer's Dog

There Are Places in the World Where Rules Are Less Important Than Kindness

Ghost Stories

A Memoir - 'What a kind, honest book. What a gift of love' David Mitchell

How to Kill a Language

A Story of Power, Resistance and the Race to Save Our Words

Women Who Win

Celebrating courage, conviction and change

We Should All be Feminists

The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics

Boxed Set

What If?

Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Notes on Nationalism

Penguin Modern

Lost Connections

Why You're Depressed and How to Find Hope

Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia

Empire of Pain

The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

Nexus

A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

The Ruin of Magic

Longing and Belonging in Strange Times

Backstage

Stories of a writing life

The Land and its People

London Falling

A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth

All the Way to the River

My Story of Love, Loss and Liberation

The Origins of Totalitarianism

Penguin Modern Classics

Earthquake

the election that shook Australia

The Mushroom Tapes

ABIA 2026 GENERAL NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNER

The Strange Death of Europe

Immigration, Identity, Islam

This product is categorised by