Midcentury quartet
Subtitle: Bishop, Lowell, Jarrell, Berryman, and the making of a postmodern aesthetic
By: Thomas Travisano.
Publisher: University Press of Virginia
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Charlottesville
Language: eng
Number of pages: 325
Subjects: Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Jarrell, Randall, 1914-1965 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Berryman, John, 1914-1972 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Lowell, Robert, 1917-1977 -- Criticism and interpretation.; American poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; Postmodernism (Literature) -- United States.
Description: "In a February 1966 letter to her artistic confidant, Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop tellingly grouped four midcentury poets: Lowell, Randall Jarrell, John Berryman, and herself. For Bishop - always wary of being pigeonholed and therefore reticent about naming her favorite contemporaries - it was a rare explicit acknowledgment of an informal but enduring artistic circle that has evaded the notice of literary journalists for more than forty years.

Despite the private nature of their dialogue, the group's members left a compelling record of their mutual interchange and influence. Drawing on an extensive range of published and archival sources, Thomas Travisano traces these poets' creation of a surprisingly coherent postmodern aesthetic and defines its continuing influence on American poetry."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-318) and index.