I continue to enjoy essay collections from the '50s, '60s, and '70s (this one a current re-issue). Most of the essays here are very dense. It sometimes felt like Davenport was simply 'erudition dumping' - so many references. But the central argument(s) and idea(s) of each piece always came through. In one of the latter essays, it became apparent that many of the writers he discusses were good friends or, at least, acquaintances. This made me wonder if they are the vital artists he makes them out to be. Still, an enlightening read. One minor complaint with this edition but I hate when the publication date (or year) of each piece isn't provided in any easily identifiable way. Perhaps it is OCD on my part. Recommend. ( )

I do not pretend the ability to read Guy Davenport properly. I have neither the background or education in the classics and/or poetry to intelligently discuss his erudite, esoteric works, but I do continually try to "find a mode of perception other than one's own."
Mr. Davenport has pointed me in the direction of many, many perceptions/ world views. I am grateful. I look forward to following his leads, and reading more of his words. ( )

Our liveliest literary tradition, as usual, is an unknown, even an unsuspected one.


Being fair, I likely rounded up as I think this would've been pristine were it 31 or 32 essays rather than 40. Many reviewers have noted that this is a master class of sorts; well, it is of a certain reading/poetic ideology. Yeah, I used that word. While Davenport confesses to subsisting often on fried bologna, canned soup and candy bars, his reclusive career is one to be celebrated. There may be cost to such a choice. Davenport is a follower of Ezra Pound. This extends to the authors elected to his poetic canon in the [b:ABC of Reading|145108|ABC of Reading|Ezra Pound|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347568729s/145108.jpg|140013] and [b:Literary Essays of Ezra Pound|145107|Literary Essays of Ezra Pound|Ezra Pound|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347579025s/145107.jpg|140012]. This is sort of accepted without question. No need for everyone to learn Provencal but maybe someone should consider the merits of Auden or Gruppe 47?


It was wonderful learning about some new poets: Ronald Johnson features on my immediate horizon and I may now have sufficient impetus to purse Hugh Kenner's magnum opus. Yet questions remain, even-hound. Why exactly Eudora Weltry? I appreciate the situating of her plotlines into a Persephone tradition but still?


Despite the objections, there is much to marvel. I remain unsure of what my immediate course will be. Olsen and Duncan still intimidate but the essay on Whitman is one for the ages. ( )

The essays collected hear will point you to writers, poets, and artists that you must have a relationship with. Many are introductions to, or critiques of, the works of others; some are brief biographies; others seem to be simply exceptionally lucid and attentive forays into whatever Davenport was thinking about at the time.

It's difficult to describe this wide-ranging adn erudite collection, but I will say that, after reading all of it, I am left with the nagging desire to spend the rest of my life studying at Davenport's feet. Unfortunately, he's no longer with us, except in collections such as this.

I expect to read these essays over and over, as I try to extract what I can from my reading of the best of literature 9archaic and modern), because Davenport touches on so much, and ties so much of the best works together.

Os. ( )

I go back to this book when I am feeling too tired to read anything new, or feeling dull or complacent. Most of these essays involve making connections among writers and books and ideas, getting to the heart of a book I've never read in a way that gets me excited to pick it up. ( )