Z-siteA Companion to the Works of Louis Zukofsky

The following bibliography is not intended to be exhaustive, but to indicate the most significant or useful commentaries on individual movements of “A”, particularly close readings.

 

On sequences or groups of movements

 

Hatlen, Burton. “Art and/as Labor: Some Dialectical Patterns in ‘A’-1 through ‘A’-10.” Contemporary Literature 25.2 (Summer 1984): 204-234.

McMorris, Mark. “Postcolonial ‘A’? Empire & Nation in Louis Zukofsky’s American Movements, ‘A’-14 – ‘A’-17.” Xcp: Cross Cultural Poetics 8 (2001): 11-22.

 

“A”-1

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 39-47.

Byrd, Don. “The Shape of Zukofsky’s Canon.” Paideuma 7.3 (Winter 1978): 179-183.

Corman, Cid. “The Z Gambit: Appendix to ‘A’-1”. Origin, fifth series 2 (Winter 1983): 70-87.

Hickman, Ben. “‘Longing for perfection’: History and Utopia in Louis Zukofsky.” Crisis and the US Avant-Garde: Poetry and Real Politics. Edinburgh UP, 2015. 22-25.

Scroggins, Mark. Louis Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge. U of Alabama P, 1998. 194-200.

Shreiber, Maeera Y. Holy Envy: Writing in the Jewish Christian Borderzone. Fordham UP, 2022.

Stanley, Sandra Kumanoto. Louis Zukofsky and the Transformation of a Modern American Poetics. U of California P, 1994. 35-39.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘The design / Of the fugue’: ‘A’ 1-7″ (2018). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 45-49.

 

“A”-2

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 46-49.

Corman, Cid. “‘A’-2: Getting On With It.” Sagetrieb 3.3 (Winter 1984): 107-114.

Rifkin, Libbie. Career Moves: Olson, Creeley, Zukofsky, Berrigan, and the American Avant–Garde. U of Wisconsin P, 2000. 85-88.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘The design / Of the fugue’: ‘A’ 1-7″ (2018). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 50-52.

 

“A”-3

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 49-51.

Corman, Cid. “‘A’-3: RICKY with addenda: 1-9.” Origin, fifth series 5 (Spring 1985): 38-66.

Stanley, Sandra Kumanoto. Louis Zukofsky and the Transformation of a Modern American Poetics. U of California P, 1994. 19-24.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘The design / Of the fugue’: ‘A’ 1-7″ (2018). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-4

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 51-52.

Ponichtera, Sarah. “Louis Zukofsky: Building a Poetics of Translation.” In geveb (Dec. 2019). Online. 

Shreiber, Maeera Y. Holy Envy: Writing in the Jewish Christian Borderzone. Fordham UP, 2022.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘still Heir’: ‘A’-4” (2013). Z-Notes.

Weisman, Karen A. “‘Self-Taunt’ and ‘The Courses We Tide From’: A Note on Zukofsky’s ‘A’-4.” Sagetrieb 6.1 (Spring 1987): 75-80.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 52-58.

 

“A”-5

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘The design / Of the fugue’: ‘A’ 1-7″ (2018). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 58-60.

 

“A”-6

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 52-60.

Perelman, Bob. The Trouble with Genius: Reading Pound, Joyce, Stein, and Zukofsky. U of California P, 1994. 187-192.

Scroggins, Mark. Louis Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge. U of Alabama P, 1998. 200-202.

Steven, Mark. Red Modernism: American Poetry and the Spirit of Communism. Johns Hopkins UP, 2017. 166-168.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘The design / Of the fugue’: ‘A’ 1-7″ (2018). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 62-67, 95-98.

 

“A”-7

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 60-66.

Ashton, Jennifer. From Modernism to Postmodernism: American Poetry and Theory in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge UP, 2005. 141-145.

Conniff, Brian. “The Modern Lyric and Prospero’s Island.” Twentieth Century Literature 34.1 (Spring 1988): 84-112.

Murphet, Julian. Multimedia Modernism: Literature and the Anglo-American Avant-garde. Cambridge UP, 2009. 188-191.

Perelman, Bob. The Trouble with Genius: Reading Pound, Joyce, Stein, and Zukofsky. U of California P, 1994. 196-198.

___. “Zukofsky at 100: Zukofsky as a Body of Work.” Radical Poetics and Jewish Secular Culture. Eds. Stephen Paul Miller & Daniel Morris. U of Alabama P, 2010. 46-47.

Stanley, Sandra Kumanoto. Louis Zukofsky and the Transformation of a Modern American Poetics. U of California P, 1994. 99-107.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘The design / Of the fugue’: ‘A’ 1-7″ (2018). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-8

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 73-100, 233-239.

Ahearn, Barry. “Zukofsky, Marxism, and American Handicraft.” In Scroggins (1997): 94-111.

Carson, Luke. Consumption and Depression in Gertrude Stein, Louis Zukofsky and Ezra Pound. St. Martin’s P, 1999. 150-168.

Jennison, Ruth. The Zukofsky Era: Modernity, Margins and the Avant–Garde. John Hopkins UP, 2012. 40-62. Rpt. “Combining Uneven Developments: Louis Zukofsky and the Political Economy of Revolutionary Modernism.” Cultural Critique 77 (Winter 2011): 152-166.

Murphet, Julian. “‘Events listening to their own tremors’: Zukofsky and Objective Anachrony.” Textual Practice 26.4 (2012): 718-723.

Scroggins, Mark. Louis Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge. U of Alabama P, 1998. 154-161.

Stanley, Sandra Kumanoto. Louis Zukofsky and the Transformation of a Modern American Poetics. U of California P, 1994. 42-45.

Steven, Mark. Red Modernism: American Poetry and the Spirit of Communism. Johns Hopkins UP, 2017. 177-187, 189-202, 206-208.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘epic of the class-struggle’?: ‘A’-8” (2013). Z-Notes. See also Z-Notes commentary on LZ and Henry Adams.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 75-82.

 

“A”-9

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 100-115, 231-233, 239-241.

Brown, Norman O. “Revisioning Historical Identities.” Tikkun 5.6 (Nov/Dec. 1990): 36-40,107-110. Rpt. Apocalypse and/or Metamorphosis (U of California P, 1991): 168-175.

Carson, Luke. Consumption and Depression in Gertrude Stein, Louis Zukofsky and Ezra Pound. St. Martin’s P, 1999. 175-181.

Davidson, Michael. “Dismantling ‘Mantis’: Reification and Objectivist Poetics.” American Literary History 3.3 (Fall 1991): 521-541. Rpt. Ghostlier Demarcations: Modern Poetry and the Material Word (U of California P, 1997): 116-134.

Jennison, Ruth. The Zukofsky Era: Modernity, Margins and the Avant–Garde. John Hopkins UP, 2012. 107-135.

Kenner, Hugh. “Loove in Brooklyn.” Paideuma 7.3 (Winter 1978): 413-420. Rpt. New Directions 39 (1979): 166-175; Historical Fictions: Essays on Literature (North Point Press, 1990): 122-132.

Marsh, Alec. “Poetry and the Age: Pound, Zukofsky, and the Labor Theory of Value.” In Scroggins (1997): 112-126.

Murphet, Julian. Multimedia Modernism: Literature and the Anglo-American Avant-garde. Cambridge UP, 2009. 196-200.

___. “‘Events listening to their own tremors’: Zukofsky and Objective Anachrony.” Textual Practice 26.4 (2012): 723-725.

Perelman, Bob. The Trouble with Genius: Reading Pound, Joyce, Stein, and Zukofsky. U of California P, 1994. 198-202, 205-206.

Quartermain, Peter. “‘Not at All Surprised by Science’: Louis Zukofsky’s First Half of ‘A’-9.” In Terrell (1979): 203-226. Rpt. Disjunctive Poetics (1992): 70-89.

Schelb, Edward. “The Exaction of Song: Louis Zukofsky and the Ideology of Form.” Contemporary Literature 31.3 (Fall 1990): 335-353.

Schuster, Joshua. “Looking at Louis Zukofsky’s Poetics through Spinozist Glasses.” Radical Poetics and Secular Jewish Culture, eds. Stephen Paul Miller & Daniel Morris. U of Alabama P, 2010. 139-143.

Steven, Mark. Red Modernism: American Poetry and the Spirit of Communism. Johns Hopkins UP, 2017. 208-211.

Turquety, Benoît. Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub: “Objectivists” in Cinema. Trans. Ted Fendt. Amsterdam UP, 2020 [original French publication by Éditions l’Age d’Homme 2009] [includes the chapter, “Speech against Power, or Poetry, Love, and Revolution: ‘A’-9,” 127-148].

Twitchell, Jeffrey. “Tuning the Senses: Cavalcanti, Marx, Spinoza and Zukofsky’s ‘A’-9.” Sagetrieb 11 (Winter 1992): 57-91.

___. “‘…related…’: ‘A’-9” (2013). Z-Notes. See also Z-Notes commentary on LZ, Williams & Pound for discussion of the first half of “A”-9 and Pound.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 103-130.

 

“A”-10

Comens, Bruce. Apocalypse and After: Modern Strategy and Postmodern Tactics in Pound, Williams, and Zukofsky, U of Alabama P, 1995.153-157.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘Love moved to earth cannot agree / with death’: ‘A’-10” (2013). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-11

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 115-124.

Corman, Cid. “‘A’-11: 1300-1950.” Line 14 (Fall 1989): 11-31.

Kenner, Hugh. “Too Full for Talk: ‘A’-11.” MAPS 5 (1973): 12-21. Rpt. Terrell (1979): 195-202.

Kimmelman, Burt, “‘Art new, hurt old’: ‘A’, Ulysses, and Modernist Intertextuality,” FlashPoint 7 (Summer 2004): Online.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘raise grief to music’: ‘A’-11” (2016). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-12

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 124-128, 211-222.

Hatlen, Burton. “From Modernism to Postmodernism: Zukofsky’s ‘A’-12.” Sagetrieb 11.1/2 (Spring/Fall 1992): 21-34. Rpt. in Scroggins (1997): 214-229.

Nirenberg, Ricardo. “The Sky Over Louis Zukofsky and Some Others.” Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture 15.29 (2005): 64-77.

Scroggins, Mark. Louis Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge. U of Alabama P, 1998. 135-139, 203-225.

Taggart, John. “Come Shadow Come and Pick This Shadow Up: On Louis Zukofsky.” Songs of Degrees: Essays on Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. U of Alabama P, 1994. 191-195, 199-204.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘Hunting … Sowing … Composing’: ‘A’-12” (2013). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 151-159.

 

“A”-13

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 130-134, 156-160.

Rieke, Alison. “‘Quotation and Originality’: Notes and Manuscripts to Louis Zukofsky’s ‘A.’” Lawrence, Jarry, Zukofsky: A Triptych—Manuscripts Collections at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. U of Texas, Austin, 1987. 93-97.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘In a trice me the gist us’: ‘A’-13.” (2019). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 170-181.

 

“A”-14

Caplan, David. “Retroview” [on “A”-14]. Pleiades Book Review Supplement 15.2 (Summer 2018) 10-14.

McMorris, Mark. “Postcolonial ‘A’? Empire & Nation in Louis Zukofsky’s American Movements, ‘A’-14 – ‘A’-17.” Xcp: Cross Cultural Poetics 8 (2001): 11-22.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘chorál out / of random input’: ‘A’-14” (2017). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-15

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 137-139.

McMorris, Mark. “Postcolonial ‘A’? Empire & Nation in Louis Zukofsky’s American Movements, ‘A’-14-‘A’-17.” Xcp: Cross Cultural Poetics 8 (2001): 11-22.

Quartermain, Peter. “Parataxis in Basil Bunting and Louis Zukofsky.” Durham University Journal Special Supplement: Sharp Study and Long Toil: Basil Bunting Special Issue, 1995. 62-67.Rpt. Stubborn Poetries: Poetic Facticity and the Avant–Garde (2013): 59-66.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘many coeval yammer’: ‘A’-15” (2015). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 190-193.

 

“A”-16

DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. “Lyric and Experimental Long Poems: Intersections” in J. Mark Smith (ed.), Time in Time: Short Poems, Long Poems and the Rhetoric of North American Avant-Gardism, 1963-2008. McGill-Queen’s UP, 2013. 44-46.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘     ‘: ‘A’-16” (2013). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-17

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘new books of poetry’: ‘A’-17” (2015). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-18

Rifkin, Libbie. Career Moves: Olson, Creeley, Zukofsky, Berrigan, and the American Avant–Garde. U of Wisconsin P, 2000.99-102.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘the emasculated conception’: ‘A’-18” (2014). Z-Notes. See also Z-Notes commentary on LZ, Williams & Pound.

 

“A”-19

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 164-167.

Cox, Kenneth. “Zukofsky and Mallarmé: Notes on ‘A’-19.” MAPS 5 (1973): 1-11. Rpt. Collected Studies in the Use of English (2001): 256-270.

Rieke, Alison. Senses of Nonsense. U of Iowa P, 1992. 173-174, 186-196.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘A legacy / windfall’: ‘A’-19” (2015). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 184-186.

 

“A”-20

 Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘At twenty / … nine’: ‘A’-20” (2014). Z-Notes.

 

“A”-21

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 176-180.

Conte, Joseph. “The Intertextual Obscurity of Louis Zukofsky’s ‘A’.” Journal of Language and Verbal Behaviour (St. Petersburg) 9 (2009):28-30.

Hatlen, Burton. “Zukofsky as Translator.” In Terrell (1979): 345-364.

Salvato, Nick. Uncloseted Drama: American Modernism and Queer Performance. Yale UP, 2010. 73-84.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘begin / anywhere’: ‘A’-21” (2014). Z-Notes.

Wray, David. “‘cool rare air’: Zukofsky’s Breathing with Catullus and Plautus.” Chicago Review 50.2/3/4 (Winter 2004/05): 52-99.

 

“A”-22

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 180-191.

Baker, Peter. Obdurate Brilliance: Exteriority and the Modern Long Poem. U of Florida P, 1991. 123-134.

Byrd, Don. The Poetics of the Common Knowledge. State U of New York P, 1994. 254-258

Comens, Bruce. Apocalypse and After: Modern Strategy and Postmodern Tactics in Pound, Williams, and Zukofsky, U of Alabama P, 1995. 180-186

Comens, Bruce. “Soundings: The ‘An’ Song Beginning ‘A’-22.” Sagetrieb 5.1 (Spring 1986): 95-106.

Ivry, Jonathan. “‘[A]ll / things began in Order to / end in Ordainer’: The Theological Poetics of Louis Zukofsky from ‘A’ to X.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 51.2 (Summer 2009): 208-218.

Leggott, Michele J. Reading Zukofsky’s “80 Flowers.” Johns Hopkins UP, 1989. 9, 34-72.

Perelman, Bob. The Trouble with Genius: Reading Pound, Joyce, Stein, and Zukofsky. U of California P, 1994. 214-216.

Scroggins, Mark. Louis Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge. U of Alabama P, 1998. 226-256.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘Humus / Humider flowers’: ‘A’-22 & -23” (2013). Z-Notes. See also Z-Notes commentary on LZ and Henry Adams for discussion of the Lyell-Adams passage.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 194-198, 203-214.

 

“A”-23

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 191-194.

Baker, Peter. Obdurate Brilliance: Exteriority and the Modern Long Poem. U of Florida P, 1991. 123-134.

Byrd, Don. The Poetics of the Common Knowledge. State U of New York P, 1994. 254-258.

Leggott, Michele J. Reading Zukofsky’s “80 Flowers.” Johns Hopkins UP, 1989. 10-11, 51-79, 156-159.

Rieke, Alison. Senses of Nonsense. U of Iowa P, 1992. 170-173, 196-226.

___. “‘Quotation and Originality’: Notes and Manuscripts to Louis Zukofsky’s ‘A’.” Lawrence, Jarry, Zukofsky: A Triptych—Manuscript Collections at Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. Eds. Oliphant, Dave and Gena Dagel. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin, 1987. 100-104.

Salvato, Nick. “Louis Zukofsky’s Old English Sources for ‘A’-23.” Notes and Queries 49.1 (March 2002): 85-88.

Scroggins, Mark. Louis Zukofsky and the Poetry of Knowledge. U of Alabama P, 1998. 226-256.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘Humus / Humider flowers’: ‘A’-22 & -23” (2013). Z-Notes.

Woods, Tim. The Poetics of the Limit: Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002. 203-214.

 

“A”-24

Ahearn, Barry. Zukofsky’s “A”: An Introduction. U of California P, 1983. 168-175.

Bondroit, Benoît, with Carla Harryman, Bob Perelman & Barrett Watten. “Language Writing and Louis Zukofsky’s ‘A’-24: Three Interviews.” Transatlantica: American Studies Journal 1 (2022). Online.

Cox, Kenneth. “‘A’-24.” Agenda 11.2-3 (Spring-Summer 1973): 89-91.

DuPlessis, Rachel Blau. Purple Passages: Pound, Eliot, Zukofsky, Olson, Creeley and the Ends of Patriarchal Poetry. U of Iowa P, 2012. 81-83.

Hilson, Jeff. “From A-Z and Bach Again: Getting a Handel on ‘A’-24.” Golden Handcuffs Review I.14 (Winter-Spring 2011): 260-269.

Parker, Richard. “Canto 75 vs. ‘A’-24.” Golden Handcuffs Review I.14 (Winter-Spring 2011): 270-285.

Parsons, Marnie. “A More Capacious Shoulder: ‘A’-24, Nonsense, and the Burden of Meaning.” In Scroggins (1997): 230-256.

Perelman, Bob. “‘A’-24.” L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E 8 (Vol. 2, No. 2) (June 1979): [6-8]. Rpt. The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book. Eds. Bruce Andrews and Charles Bernstein. Southern Illinois UP, 1984. 292-293.

Salvato, Nick. Uncloseted Drama: American Modernism and Queer Performance. Yale UP, 2010. 84-98.

Taggart, John. Songs of Degrees: Essays on Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. U of Alabama P, 1994. 107-110.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “‘And I This Blest’: the Zukfoskys’ ‘A’-24.” Golden Handcuffs Review I.14 (Winter-Spring 2011):286-294. Available at the Z-Notes (2013).