Thing of Beauty: New and Selected Works / Edition 1

by Jackson Mac Low, Anne Tardos

Overview

This landmark collection brings together poetry, performance pieces, "traditional" verse, prose poems, and other poetical texts from Jackson Mac Low's lifetime in art. The works span the years from 1937, beginning with "Thing of Beauty," his first poem, until his death in 2004 and demonstrate his extraordinary range as well as his unquenchable enthusiasm. Mac Low is widely acknowledged as one of the major figures in twentieth-century American poetry, with much of his work ranging into the spheres of music, dance, theater, performance, and the visual arts. Comparable in stature to such giants as Robert Creeley, John Ashbery, and Allen Ginsberg, Mac Low is often associated with composer John Cage, with whom he shared a delight in work derived from "chance operations." This volume, edited by Anne Tardos, his wife and frequent collaborator, offers a balanced arrangement of early, middle, and late work, designed to convey not just the range but also the progressions and continuities of his writings and "writingways."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520260023
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	05/01/2009
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	502
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jackson Mac Low (1922–2004) was a poet, composer, painter, and multimedia performance artist. He is the author of more than twenty-five books including Doings (2005), Pieces o’ Six (1993), and Twenties (1992). Anne Tardos is a poet, performer, visual artist, and composer. She is the author of many books including The Dik-dik’s Solitude: New and Selected Works (2003), Uxudo (1999), and Mayg-shem Fish (1995).

Table of Contents

Foreword
Acknowledgements

PART I: 1937-1954
PART II: December 1954 - March 1979
PART III: September 1979 - September 2004

Publications
Credits
About Jackson Mac Low
About Anne Tardos
Index of Titles

Editorial Reviews

In her enlightening forward to this newest gathering of avant-garde poet Mac Low's work, Tardos makes the case that Mac Low (1922-2004) had an over-arching interest throughout his career in creating "things of beauty," a bombshell of a statement considering Mac Low's oeuvre, made up in large part of Zen-inspired "chance" experiments and ungainly language clusters like "Ugolino, / re oN rlin / Dysentery / Eille eZzato paRently." Mac Low's work has always been interesting, but beautiful? This collection, which follows two previous selections, does the best job to date in providing a window into Mac Low's unique perspective on what constitutes poetic beauty, showcasing a wide range of his poetry, from earnest political juvenilia to concrete-poetic text experiments, and featuring the previously less represented work Mac Low did in his last 20 years. Mac Low's more personal, less overtly process-generated, lyrics reveal the modernist and Romantic roots of Mac Low's sensibility. "No. no. no. Hear! The between," he wrote in 1946 in "Hear I here," laying out his lifetime preoccupation with "betweenness." Mac Low continued to listen dutifully until his death. This book provides a rewarding testament to his ability to transcribe what he heard. (Jan.)

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Publishers Weekly

Poet and visual artist Tardos, whose visual texts have been exhibited in venues like New York City's Museum of Modern Art and the Venice Biennale (Fluxus Pavillion), met Mac Low in 1975; the two subsequently lived and worked together from 1978 until his death in 2004. In this landmark collection, Tardos brings together poetry, performance pieces, "traditional" verse, prose poems, and other poetical texts from Mac Low's entire career. The works date from 1937, beginning with "Thing of Beauty," his first poem, until the last works before his death. Mac Low is widely acknowledged as one of the major figures in 20th-century American poetry, comparable to such giants as Robert Creeley and Allen Ginsberg, with much of his work ranging into the spheres of music, dance, theater, performance, and the visual arts. This is an important volume that integrates various art forms while showcasing Mac Low's extraordinary range; a balanced arrangement of early, middle, and late work, as well as his tremendous enthusiasm. Recommended for all libraries with specialties in literature, poetry, and art.
—Kathleen A. Welton

Library Journal