Whiteness, Feminism and the Absurd in Contemporary British and Us Poetry (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781474494342)

In an era of political and social turmoil on both sides of the Atlantic, where issues of gender, race and class are linked with concerns of how to survive in a capitalist society, a new aesthetic of Absurdist poetry has emerged. This aesthetic has a troubled relationship to race, pervaded by issues of representation in avant-garde poetry, and notions of who poetry writers and readers are. Focusing on British and US poets including Rachael Allen, Emily Berry, Crispin Best, Caroline Bird, Franny Choi, Jennifer L. Knox, Morgan Parker and Jane Yeh, Jenna Clake investigates how poets use the Absurd to destabilise ideas about race, gender and class and imagine social change. Bringing together Whiteness studies, socio-political theory, and close readings of poems, Clake examines how the Absurd has developed, how its poets understand privilege and offer prospects of hope and change, and how the Absurd might move away from nihilism.

Author: Jenna Clake
ISBN-10: 147449434X
ISBN-13: 9781474494342
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Language: English
Published: 02/28/2025
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.50d