The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare

Robert Duncan’s significance for anglophone poetry after World War II is indisputable. But Duncan communicated with his milieu – both supportively and antagonistically – in unpublished letters as much as in his published poetry and essays. This essay centers around an exchange between Robert Duncan...

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Main Author: Stephan Delbos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2020-12-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/10483
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author Stephan Delbos
author_facet Stephan Delbos
author_sort Stephan Delbos
collection DOAJ
description Robert Duncan’s significance for anglophone poetry after World War II is indisputable. But Duncan communicated with his milieu – both supportively and antagonistically – in unpublished letters as much as in his published poetry and essays. This essay centers around an exchange between Robert Duncan and editor Donald Allen in 1960, just after the publication of The New American Poetry. In one important letter, Allen suggests that “the community of love” was the central unifying feature of the poetry in the anthology. This inspired a long reply from Duncan, detailing his feelings about specific poets while describing the ability to experience and write about sexuality and romance as a significant difference between the poets of Allen’s anthology and the so-called academic poets of the period. Clarifying Duncan’s role in the development of Allen’s anthology, this essay highlights the political and social repercussions of The New American Poetry as well as the vulnerability Duncan felt as a homosexual poet during a period known as the Lavender Scare.
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spelling doaj-art-1f9f2605faf94b8686af9fa44bca8cc22025-01-30T13:47:27ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022020-12-012910.4000/sillagescritiques.10483The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender ScareStephan DelbosRobert Duncan’s significance for anglophone poetry after World War II is indisputable. But Duncan communicated with his milieu – both supportively and antagonistically – in unpublished letters as much as in his published poetry and essays. This essay centers around an exchange between Robert Duncan and editor Donald Allen in 1960, just after the publication of The New American Poetry. In one important letter, Allen suggests that “the community of love” was the central unifying feature of the poetry in the anthology. This inspired a long reply from Duncan, detailing his feelings about specific poets while describing the ability to experience and write about sexuality and romance as a significant difference between the poets of Allen’s anthology and the so-called academic poets of the period. Clarifying Duncan’s role in the development of Allen’s anthology, this essay highlights the political and social repercussions of The New American Poetry as well as the vulnerability Duncan felt as a homosexual poet during a period known as the Lavender Scare.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/10483Robert DuncanThe New American PoetryThe Lavender ScareCold War PoetryDonald AllenPost-War American Poetry
spellingShingle Stephan Delbos
The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare
Sillages Critiques
Robert Duncan
The New American Poetry
The Lavender Scare
Cold War Poetry
Donald Allen
Post-War American Poetry
title The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare
title_full The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare
title_fullStr The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare
title_full_unstemmed The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare
title_short The Cold War Community of Love and Scorn: Robert Duncan, The New American Poetry, and the Lavender Scare
title_sort cold war community of love and scorn robert duncan the new american poetry and the lavender scare
topic Robert Duncan
The New American Poetry
The Lavender Scare
Cold War Poetry
Donald Allen
Post-War American Poetry
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/10483
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