Friday, June 3rd, 15.30 – 18.30, at Università di Verona, Room 1.3
Abstract:
In my paper I study how American poets have tried to find a new vocabulary, new language in the political landscape of the so called War on Terror. Especially the group of language poets has stressed the need to find ones way out of the military rhetoric and masculine language of warmongers. One of the members of the group, Charles Bernstein has parodied speeches of Bush and Schwarzenegger, but has also tried to counter them with his poetry of ambivalence, femininity and polyvocality. His latest poetry aims towards nuanced analysis of war and terrorism and violence. Bernstein explores a range of alternatives to the with-us-or-against-us rhetoric of the popular media as well as to the anti-liberal tendencies of current American politics. I focus in my paper on Bernstein’s poetry and its imagery of “Girly Men”, his feminine alternative to masculine “warrior politics”.
