Radical Artifice: Writing Poetry in the Age of Media

Radical Artifice examines how poetry has evolved in response to mass media and electronic communication in the late 20th century. Perloff analyzes works by poets including John Cage, Charles Bernstein, and Susan Howe to demonstrate how experimental forms engage with television, advertising, and digital culture. The book traces connections between avant-garde poetic techniques and changes in how information is transmitted and received in contemporary society. Through close readings and theoretical discussions, Perloff explores topics like concrete poetry, sound poetry, and language poetry within their technological and cultural contexts. Perloff challenges traditional views about lyric poetry and argues for understanding contemporary experimental works as valid responses to a media-saturated world. Her analysis suggests that poets who embrace artifice and fragmentation may capture modern experience more authentically than those who pursue conventional notions of poetic voice and natural expression.

Readers appreciate Perloff's analysis of how media and technology influence contemporary poetry. Several reviewers highlight her examination of Language poetry and concrete poetry within the broader media landscape. Positive comments focus on: - Clear explanations of complex poetic techniques - Strong examples from poets like John Cage and Charles Bernstein - Connections between advertising, television, and poetry Common criticisms: - Dense academic writing style - Limited accessibility for non-academic readers - Some arguments feel dated regarding "new" media Ratings: Goodreads: 3.9/5 (23 ratings) Amazon: Not enough reviews for rating Notable reader comments: "Helps decode experimental poetry techniques but requires patience to get through" - Goodreads reviewer "Important ideas but wrapped in unnecessarily complex language" - Academic journal review "Useful for understanding poetry's relationship with mass media, though examples from the 1990s feel outdated" - Poetry forum discussion

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🔖 Marjorie Perloff wrote this groundbreaking 1991 work while serving as the Sadie Dernham Patek Professor of Humanities at Stanford University, a position she held for nearly three decades. 📺 The book was one of the first academic works to seriously examine how television, advertising, and emerging digital media were influencing contemporary poetry and poetics. 🎭 Perloff heavily references John Cage's mesostic poems and visual works throughout the book, exploring how his experimental techniques mirror media-age fragmentation. 📝 The term "radical artifice" itself was inspired by Laura Riding's 1928 essay "The New Barbarism and Gertrude Stein," creating a bridge between modernist and contemporary poetic theory. 🔄 The book challenges traditional notions of "natural" poetic language, arguing that in a media-saturated world, all language is inherently artificial and constructed.