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The poetry of J.H. Prynne has been the subject of numerous essays and reviews, several dissertations and monographs, but it has rarely been read with the type of explicit attention made possible by the commentary, a form notably undertaken by Prynne himself. This is due in part to the resistance one encounters in close reading these poems, in following the etymological and syntactical pressures rendered by their logical extensions into a formidable deep structure, and in attempting precise analysis of the ambiguity stimulated by their unfamiliar terrain. Prynne’s poetry seems fundamentally resistant to synthetic, thesis-driven interpretation. It opens up a contested space of saturated linguistic experiences that elude translation into conventional critical idioms. Commentary, with its capacity for depth, reference, and conceptual inclusiveness, thus suits Prynne’s poems particularly well. Imaginative, immanent, and rigorous reading of these poems requires a form whose vantage and environment is one of elliptical convergence with the text, which is an essential strength of marginal, interlinear, and annotative commentary. For this themed issue, the editors seek commentaries on single poems and books by J.H. Prynne. Articles investigating relationships between Prynne’s work and commentary will also be considered. Commentators may refer to the “Selected Bibliography” on the Glossator website (http://www.glossator.org) for a sense of the range of possible approaches. Formal and disciplinary innovation within the commentary genre are welcome. Commentaries may be philosophical, critical, historical, philological, etc. or some combination thereof.
300-word proposals for commentaries are due December 15, 2008. Proposals should be sent by email as Word attachment to glossatori@gmail.com
Publication date: 1 March 2010
Special Co-Editor: Ryan Dobran (rdobran@gmail.com)
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