Overview
This book explores how confessional poets in the 1950s and 1960s US responded to a Cold War political climate that used the threat of nuclear disaster and communist infiltration as affective tools for the management of public life. In an era that witnessed the state-sanctioned repression of civil liberties, poets such as Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Randall Jarrell adopted what has often been considered a politically benign confessional style. Although confessional writers have been criticized for emphasizing private turmoil in an era of public crisis, examining their work in relation to the political and affective environment of the Cold War US demonstrates their unique ability to express dissent while averting surveillance. For these poets, writing the fear and anxiety of life in the bomb’s shadow was a form of poetic doublespeak that critiqued the impact of an affective Cold War politics without naming names.
Full Product Details
Author: Adam Beardsworth
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Edition: 1st ed. 2022
Weight: 0.263kg
ISBN: 9783030931179
ISBN 10: 303093117
Pages: 186
Publication Date: 04 February 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
“Confessional Poetry in the Cold War is structured well … . Scholars from literary studies, American studies, and feminist surveillance studies, as well as surveillance researchers more generally, will benefit from reading Confessional Poetry in the Cold War. Those researching at the intersection of mental health and surveillance will find Beardsworth’s monograph particularly useful as this is a recurring theme explored throughout.” (Jade Hinchliffe, Surveillance & Society, Vol. 20 (3), 2022)
Confessional Poetry in the Cold War is structured well ... . Scholars from literary studies, American studies, and feminist surveillance studies, as well as surveillance researchers more generally, will benefit from reading Confessional Poetry in the Cold War. Those researching at the intersection of mental health and surveillance will find Beardsworth's monograph particularly useful as this is a recurring theme explored throughout. (Jade Hinchliffe, Surveillance & Society, Vol. 20 (3), 2022)
Author Information
Adam Beardsworth is a professor of English at Memorial University’s Grenfell Campus, Canada, where he teaches contemporary literature and critical theory. He is the author of numerous articles and chapters on US and Canadian poetry and is a past-president of the Canadian Association for American Studies. He lives in Steady Brook, Newfoundland.
