Led by Language: The Poetry and Poetics of Susan Howe (Modern & Contemporary Poetics)
In a very well organized set of essays whose strength is belied  by its modest tone, Back (Bar-Ilan Univ., Israel) attempts to  guide willing readers into contemporary American poet Susan  Howe's radical poetic project and praxis. Though Howe's texts  (e.g., Singularities, Pierce-Arrow) are difficult, Back is a  grateful reader and an excellent writer. In Howe, she finds an  extravagant, nonconformist spirit searching to mark in language  her own foundations of identity and her own original sense of  place. Themes of Puritanism, U.S. Colonial history, and Howe's  sense of Irish ancestry are all examined, while the philosophies  of Walter Benjamin and Jacques Lacan are artfully used to expose  Howe's poetic explorations of culture and self. (Back's book  left this reviewer wishing for work as clear and insightful on  Jean Valentine and Marjorie Welish.) This first full-length  study of Howe is highly recommended for libraries interested in  avant-garde, feminist, or demanding texts. Congratulations to  Back on a difficult job very well done. Scott Hightower, Fordham  Univ., New YorkCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.