Preface - Electronic Poetry Center

From: Mark Wallace
Subject: and even more bland abstract lyrics
I appreciate Gale Nelson’s caution that Ron may be referring to a larger swath
of avant garde writing than I suggested earlier. But I don’t think, in fact, that he
is, or at least to any huge extent. He has commented before about the Writing
From the New Coast anthology, and various other projects having to do with
avant garde writers who have only begun to publish books in the 1990s (one
possible way of defining "emerging," however tentatively). Although I think
that Ron’s critique is to a certain extent incorrect, I think he means it seriously
and his position is not completely without justification–which is why, I think, it
does need refutation.
Look at it this way–Ron Silliman is an excellent poet, a first rate critic, and one
of the most thoroughly open commentators we have on this poetics list–he’s got
the guts to constantly say exactly what he’s thinking. While I don’t always
agree (by any means) with the things he says, I think he’s got an uncanny knack
for putting his finger exactly where key problems are. And I think that
emerging "post-language" avant garde writers have, at the very least, a real
identity problem. I mean, if a committed avant gardist like Ron Silliman can’t
see the value in what emerging writers are doing, who’s going to? At least he
READ Writing From the New Coast.
For Jordan Davis and Al Nielsen and others who questioned my "definitions," I
certainly agree that such definitions are always problematic, but I also think
that saying so may be to a certain extent beside the point. Wittgenstein once
said, when talking of language games, "And for those who find my definition
of language games too inexact, I reply, isn’t an inexact definition often what we
need?" That is, the inexactness of absolute definitions for terms is precisely the
situation we’re in all the time–the inexactness of definition is the very ground
on which communication takes place. So, yes, terms like "avant garde,"
"emerging," "younger," "generation," and "Ron Silliman" for that matter are
problematic and inexact, but also highly USEFUL. Besides, Jordan, I’m not
"defending younger writers." It’s my perception, I think a correct one, that Ron
has been guilty of too great a generalization regarding emerging avant garde
writers. I was not calling for some generalized "defense," but for
PARTICULAR RESPONSES.