June 05, 2007, 7:00 PM
Our Life in Six Lyrical Poems: Sylvia Plath
Poetry Course
Participants: Michael Braziller & Carol Muske-Dukes
The course will be taught by Michael Braziller, the Publisher of Persea Books, an independent literary press he co-founded in 1975, and which is devoted almost exclusively to educational and poetry titles. Mr. Braziller and his guest, Carol Muske-Dukes, will look closely at the poems of Sylvia Plath, focusing on "Daddy," "Edge," "The Arrival of the Bee Box," "Elm," "The Moon and the Yew Tree," and "Words." The principal emphasis will be on the emotional and psychological life of the poems themselves. In addition, Ms. Muske-Dukes will read and discuss one poem of her own which was, in some way, influenced by Plath. No prior registration or fee is required. To view the poems, please click on the link below. Please bring a printed copy to the class. Copies of the poems will not be provided at the event.
Plath Poems (PDF)
Plath Poems (Word)
Carol Muske-Dukes is the author of seven books of poetry, including Sparrow, a National Book Award finalist, and An Octave Above Thunder: New & Selected Poems. Her novels are Life After Death, Saving St. Germ, Dear Digby, and the forthcoming Channeling Mark Twain. She is Professor of English and Creative Writing and founding Director of the new PhD Program in Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Southern California.
Discussion Board
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Dianne Hunter says:
It is a mystery to me why Carol Muske-Dukes was chosen to speak about Plath. When asked to contextualize Plath at the opening of the event, Muske-Dukes speaks only of biography. Then she refuses to discuss biography when talking about "Daddy." Muske-Dukes gushes about how astonishing Plath is in her use of language. That seems to be the limit of Muske-Dukes critical skill. Why would the Philoctetes Center invite a speaker who refuses to use psychoanalysis? Muske-Dukes seems to be in over her head and of only limited powers of articulation. She deploys social hostility as a deflection from her inability to participate in discussion. Muske-Dukes talks about herself and other irrelevancies, and she fails to engage in dialogue. There are some very knowledgeable, articulate and psychoanalytic readers of Plath who would have made better invitees than Muske-Dukes. These include Lynda Bundtzen, Steve Axelrod, and Elisabeth Bronfen. Please do better homework, Philoctetes Center.
Philoctetes says:
One unusual and I hope useful aspect of the Our Life in Poetry series has been to have poets, not specialists or academics, talk about other poets. In general, and if given some sense of direction, this can be the most helpful way of looking at a poem. I encourage my guests not to give lectures, but to go through the poems with me and make spontaneous observations about what is going on in them. There is an element of performance and of chance that I think makes for stimulating and interesting discussion. There is also an element of chance involved when I invite a poet. I don't and can't know everyone I invite, and I often depend on an informal group of advisors to recommend people they think are appropriate. Being spontaneous and taking chances can be productive and stimulating, but can misfire or backfire. Overall the record has been almost spotless.
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