Robert Duncan: The Collected Early Poems and Plays Paperback - 2019

"Robert Duncan is one of the masters of twentieth-century American poetry. His brilliant oeuvre stands as a record of contemporary changes of consciousness and sensibility in spheres that range from the poetic to the political. His subtle, insistent poetry displays a mythic imagination, a sense of intimacy and grandeur, a sexual frankness, and a thrilling attention to layers of language. This is a grand work of self-fashioning and poetic urgency. Peter Quartermain has done a magisterial job of editing this volume, making a major contribution to scholarship, while helping to frame the poetry of our time." Rachel Blau DuPlessis, author of Drafts.

"The California edition of the works of Robert Duncan has been eagerly awaited by readers and critics for two decades since the poet's death, and this collection does not disappoint. It contains everything one could want to have in a reader's edition of the poet's work. This volume is especially critical because it contains Duncan's earlier poems, which are almost uniformly difficult to find; its publication will cause a serious reconsideration of Duncan's career. Quartermain's meticulous editing has produced a book that will be hailed by scholars and general readers alike. It is a stellar achievement."--Stephen Fredman, author of Contextual Practice: Assemblage and the Erotic in Postwar Poetry and Art.