EBOOK
About
The House That Jack Built collects for the first time the four historic talks given by controversial poet Jack Spicer just before his early death in 1965. These lively and provocative lectures function as a gloss to Spicer's own poetry, a general discourse on poetics, and a cautionary handbook for young poets. This long-awaited document of Spicer's unorthodox poetic vision, what Robin Blaser has called "the practice of outside," is an authoritative edition of an underground classic.
Peter Gizzi's afterword elucidates some of the fundamental issues of Spicer's poetry and lectures, including the concept of poetic dictation, which Spicer renovates with vocabularies of popular culture: radio, Martians, and baseball; his use of the California landscape as a backdrop for his poems; and his visual imagination in relation to the aesthetics of west-coast funk assemblage. This book delivers a firsthand account of the contrary and turbulent poetics that define Spicer's ongoing contribution to an international avant-garde.
Peter Gizzi's afterword elucidates some of the fundamental issues of Spicer's poetry and lectures, including the concept of poetic dictation, which Spicer renovates with vocabularies of popular culture: radio, Martians, and baseball; his use of the California landscape as a backdrop for his poems; and his visual imagination in relation to the aesthetics of west-coast funk assemblage. This book delivers a firsthand account of the contrary and turbulent poetics that define Spicer's ongoing contribution to an international avant-garde.
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Reviews
"Gizzi's afterword offers a thorough, detailed appreciation of Spicer that illuminates many textual difficulties. He also includes an appendix of uncollected prose, a final interview, and a useful bibliography....[A] valuable [addition] to all collections of American poetry."
L. Berk
"[A]n invaluable addition to the Spicer canon, The House That Jack Built is as instructive for scholars as it is for Spicer enthusiasts."
John Pallatella
"Poet and editor Peter Gizzi has come up with extremely readable transcriptions from old fragile tapes, truly helpful short introductions to each talk, a handful of welcome stray pieces-including the only known published interview (originally in the San Francisco Chronicle), great useful footnotes, and an afterward grappling with the subtleties of Spicer's works."
Steve Dickison
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