For anyone specifically interested in the Japanese influence on modernist
poets, I suggest the following three books, as well: The Japanese Tradition
in British and American Literature, by Earl Miner; Japanese Cultural
Influences on American Poetry and Drama, by Hazel Durnell; and American
Poetry and Japanese Culture, by Sanehide Kodama. I believe Thomas
Fortenberry already mentioned Ezra Pound and Japan:  Letters and Essays,
edited by Sanehide Kodama, in an earlier post.

Ce Rosenow


At 06:33 AM 11/18/2002 -0500, you wrote:
>Jon:
>
>I'll look at Kern's book. Emerson was a huge influence on Cummings and
>Frost, as was Thoreau. What's interesting to me is that even with those
>similar influences (Pound, too), Cummings openly expressed disdain for
>Frost's poetry, and Frost openly disapproved of free verse. Yet I see some
>parallels in their poetry, which goes to the Eastern philosophies.
>
>Kate
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jon & Anne Weidler" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Monday, November 18, 2002 12:26 AM
>Subject: Eastern questions
>
>
>> It's wonderful that this list suddenly leapt alive.  It's equally
>> wonderful that "eastern" issues prompted the leaping.  About Modernism
>> and Orientalism in general, I've been reading Robert Kern's book on the
>> subject (*Modernism, Orientalism, and the American Poem* it's cleverly
>> titled.)  I find it valuable because Kern's reading sets up a way for
>> incorporating non-Buddhist, non-Eastern-minded writers (like Cummings
>> or Stevens for instance) into a "Zen-centric" perspective (to coin a
>> phrase).  I've been thinking about some products of modern poetry as
>> being kinds of advertisements before the fact for an American
>> assimilation/appropriation/utilization of the so-called wisdom of the
>> east.
>>
>> (Note please that Kern's book is mainly about Emerson, some 19th-cen.
>> German philologists, Otto Jespersen, Fenollosa, Pound, and ultimately,
>> Snyder.  It doesn't speak specifically to Cummings or Stevens, even if
>> I implied that it did.  It's just helpful for locating modern American
>> poetic practice in a history of western engagements with, primarily,
>> the Chinese language.)
>>
>> Thanks for writing!
>> -Jon Weidler
>> Loyola University
>>
>