Charles Olson Books

Or, if you have read and re-read the current bestseller Ahab's Wife, and you are looking for another classic treatment of the Moby Dick story not featured on Oprah Winfrey's daily chat show, you might pick up Olson's famous theoretical exposition of Melville. In 1947, Charles Olson hadn't written much poetry and he was just coming off a failed political career as a minor functionary in Roosevelt's New Deal, but somehow he got his act together with CALL ME ISHMAEL. Nowadays, everyone is in on the Melville revival but in the immediate postwar years Melville had only really been in the canon for twenty years or so, so Olson was working out something new and undone in American literature. His book didn't sell particularly well, it's challenging and high-toned, but it has remained in print continuously for almost 60 years. Let's see if AHAB'S WIFE can say the same!

In brief, "Call Me Ishmael" is the most interesting piece of literary criticism I've ever read. Foreshadowing his future leanings as a poet, Olson writes "Ishmael" more like a prose poem than stodgy dissertation. Yet, however unique the form, it seems strangely predetermined. For it is only through a poetic nature that it could distill such huge, multilayered concepts into an accessible and short (119 pg.) essay. This reissue--it was first published in 1947--takes the reader through Shakespearean influence on "Moby Dick," Melville's struggle with faith, and the importance of place--to name only three examples. The future rector of the short-lived, yet highly influential, Black Mountain College in North Carolina, creates an energy out of words bested only by "The Whale" itself. As Olson stated to his colleague, Merton Sealts, Jr., who wrote the new afterword to the essay: "I see that The White Death has descended upon You too." And it will upon you as well. After reading this incisive, lyrical, and engaging piece, you will want to return to "Moby Dick" before you've closed its pages.

It should come as no surprise that the world's greatest novel would inspire the world's greatest essay of literary criticism. Sadly, Olson's ideas did not appeal to members of the elite Melville Society, and to this day they still consider him a "crank." A real pity, because Olson will be remembered long after they are forgotten.

"History was "'istorin," which Olson took from Herodotus and used not as a noun or concept, but, rather, as a verb, "to find out for yourself." ---Robert Creeley, from his preface.

Charles Olson is a poet of poignant searching. Throughout this volume, confidently compiled by Olson's longtime friend and correspondent, Robert Creeley, Olson seems to be finding out for himself what it is to be human. In the soliloquy poem, "Maximus, to himself" (taken from Olson's magnum opus, The Maximus Poems), Olson shows that this process involves the discussion of feelings of inadequacy. He describes the frustration of "[standing] estranged / from that which was most familiar," when "the sharpness (the achiote) / I note in others, / makes more sense / than my own distances." Here, Olson seems to want to attain a certain quickness of mind which he sees as an essential human characteristic. The qualities he admires in others are mixed, though, as when he says of Sappho (in "For Sappho, Back"): "with a bold / she looked on any man, / with a shy eye." Her power seems to come in her duality, her ability to appear both "bold" and "shy." This discussion of Sappho shows that Olson is concerned with the classical world, but he can also be an achingly banal poet as when, in "As the Dead Pray Upon Us," he remembers his dead mother, saying, "And if she sits in happiness the souls / who trouble her and me / will also rest. The automobile // has been hauled away." A truly great poet, Olson realized that the real history is that of the self, in all its foibles, contradictions, and blisses.

Charles Olson (1910-1970) was one of the most important American poets of the 20th Century. In this volume, Olson friend Robert Creeley has chosen most of the poems that I would have chosen for such a volume. He has included such works as "An Ode on Nativity" and "The Twist" which help celebrate the city of his birth and youth, Worcester MA. Creeley fairly evenly divides the book between choosing from The Collected Poems and The Maximus Poems. The only poem that is not in this excellent volume that I would have included is "Ferrini 1," Olson's tribute to his brilliant friend, Vincent Ferrini. Buy this book!

I think that the Graphic Library series is very helpful and I use them in my classroom. This one is about Betsy Ross and the creation of the American Flag. It makes clear that the only proof that Betsy Ross created the flag was an oral history told by her grandson. Who knows? It wouldn't be the first oral history to be true! Recommended.

Libbie Rifkin shines light on the work of four avant- garde poets who created a poetry culture where they could reign, preeminent. If ever there were a movement in art history that could only "be understood backwards, but must be lived forwards" (to paraphrase Kierkegaard,) it was the avant-garde. Now an American institution, avant-gardism can be more fully understood.

Focusing on four major literary figures of the 50's and 60's: Charles Olson, Robert Creeley, Louis Zukofsky, and Ted Berrigan, Career Moves guides us through to their eventual prominence. All four poets followed in the heat of the Beat poets, and capitalized on that movement, coming into their own with a fervor which could be described as the making of poetry in service to the self. The term `avant-garde' leads us to think of breaking old forms to create new, thus seeing its practitioners as revolutionaries and iconoclasts. A contrary point made by Rifkin is how imperialistic these avant-gardists were, and how they contrived to manipulate public taste by creating poetry which was doctrinaire. Ezra Pound, more than others, influenced these four, more even than W.C. Williams or Wallace Stevens. Pound's famous "ego as beak" (to "drive through the material") was the philosophy Olson and Creeley used to create an empire of solipsistic literature, in defiance of the Academy, at the same time courting the universities to promulgate and sustain their works. Their art was born and breasted of such contradictions.

Arrogance, yes. Self-styled critics and self appointed cultural anthropologists that they were, the facts remain: these are four of the most interesting writers in the history of American poetry. Charles Olson's projectivism, using breath to determine the line on the page, has changed the reading, writing and teaching of poetry forevermore. Creeley's magnificent epigrammatic poems established a new morality for word order. Zukofsky's life long poetic fugues are a testament to experimentation, and Berrigan's lust for recognition objectified the daily act (Frank O'Hara's legacy,) taking all to a new level of poetic exhibitionism. There is genius in each.

Libbie Rifkin gives us insight into the making of the new poetry. For example, she points to Berrigan's appropriation of other poets -- composition, tone, and language. She refers especially to his imitation of John Ashbery's poems. One has to believe Ashbery is a saint, completely without ego, for his acceptance of these practices. The book could have uncovered more here for our satisfaction and curiosity, but Rifkin doesn't go for pure literary gossip. The greater good Berrigan thought, was of course to pay tribute to the hero, Ashbery. The immediate effect, not lost on Berrigan, is that many of us don't have the means to credit the work properly and so, attribute to Berrigan work which wins the day. Much that followed this, however, is ground-breaking. The small literary magazines that ignored tables of content, authorship of poems etc. are pretty exciting in the creating of a new poetry ego within the pages. Poetic assemblage was born.

Throughout the book we are shown that nothing was written that wasn't consciously designed to construct a literary reputation. What is different? Looking at today's poets, most want recognition, few write for obscurity, and fame is certainly the goal. What distinguishes these four poets, then, according to Rifkin was the dogged authoritarianism in their roles as editors, in their writings and teachings - their "Homosocial " culture - and the incorporation of traditional works within the text.

The reader always wonders how far away any artist can go without turning back. Not far it seems. It is fascinating to see how heavily Shakespeare and European classical music figure in the work of our four. If anything, I would like to have seen how America's other avant-garde art forms (visual arts, music etc) factored into the manuscripts. We are content to imagine the broken line and off beat syntax as evidence However these were first the property of the modernists of the 50's. So what art forms of the time influenced them? We do not see this explicated in their texts.

Career Moves matters largely because the poets, Orson, Creeley, Zukofsky and Berrigan, matter to us. In my generation they are contemporaneous with the love of poetry itself. It's doubtful that many of us would have been drawn to the ongoing energy of poetry had it not been for these men and their bold innovations and powerful poetic disciplines.

Few scholars have concentrated before on how and when poetry was marketed. In today's presence of flamboyant PR and endless cultural commerce, we can now see how other "sociopoetic practices" figured. Public consumption is always an end in itself, a manufactured act, yet designers make taste and great poets do also. The study of their `career moves' interests us on all levels, mostly because suspicion of what goes into making people famous is finally satisfied by fact. It is impossible for me to forget that fame is an Italian word for hunger.

Libbie Rifkin's scholarly explorations and mastery of material combine with a language we had forgotten to expect from our critics, and a prose style we can be grateful for. This means that in the field of literary history Libbie Rifkin has authored a book for us to read and reread, not only in preparation for the classroom but for our own personal fulfillment and pleasure. Besides, who would not be attracted to a mythology of four men who have created a poetry society by their own imaginations of greatness. And who would not want to follow their every career move.

Grace Cavalieri is the author of several books of poetry, the latest Cuffed Frays (Argonne House Press.) Her most recent play "Pinecrest Rest Haven" premiered at NYC's Common Basis Theatre in NYC in 2001. She produces and hosts "The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress" broadcast via NPR satellite to public radio.

This article was originally written for THE MONTSERRAT REVIEW issue #6 Spring 2002 ....

Only Butterick and Creely could have demonstrated the significance that Charles Olson imparted upon the world of post-modern poetry. For those familiar and unfamiliar with the works of this poet, this collection, although only a mere smattering of the magnitude of Olson, provides an imposing insight to the depth and mastery of modern poetry.

Professor Maud's book provides welcome relief from sensationalist biography. By tracing Olson's reading, and thus establishing a chronological framework for the poet's thinking, Maud does not confuse with editorial and/or emotional bias. For readers unable to make the trip to the various archives of Olson's work around the US, this book is a valuable reference. The extensive notes provide a place for the interested scholar to get lost in for hours. Extensive and intensive if a little dry, this book is worth the read as a companion to Olson's work.

Charles Olson is THE giant of post-war American poetry. Massive in every way - 6 foot 7 & a half inches tall, enormously influential as writer & teacher, a voracious reader, intense visionary, a mind second to none & a heart as big as the planet, his poetry & prose should be on every curriculum & syllabus in every school & university on the planet. What is so exciting about his work is that it proposes not just a new way of looking at things, but a new & vital way of engaging with life & destiny (ENERGY & INSTANT is how he put it) - "the poet is the only pedagogue left, to be trusted" - he teaches "man, that participant thing, to take up, straight, nature's, live nature's force". As you can see his prose is difficult & takes time to get used to - best to read it aloud & let its energy transform you as much as its meaning: energy transferral is how Olson saw communication & to receive energy you must first give it, & to bring energy from the page you must first bring it into the air in the act of speech: language for Olson was as much physical as mental - "I believe in God as fully physical" - & when you read Olson you feel yourself in the grip of energy - what he called the WILL TO COHERE - THE PROJECTIVE ACT - the very grip of LIFE, which flowed thru him with such intensity. His style is crucial to his message - FORM IS NEVER MORE THAN AN EXTENSION OF CONTENT - which brings me to my only quibble with this book (& it's a major one) - its design. Olson was a real stickler for design - layout & typefaces were crucially important to him because they all contributed to the impact of the page on the reader, which is why I cannot understand the reason for the cool (the last word you'd ever call Olson - he was too hot even to get close to), sans serif, bland layout of the pages in this book. Olson often capitalises phrases - like he's shouting them at you - here they're barely a whisper. Is all I can think is that the book was designed by someone more familiar with fashion than with the contents - a big mistake I'm afraid because a lot of the power is lost. Anyway, that said, it is all here - Call Me Ishmael, Human Universe, Additional Prose & other snippets, & the photo on the cover is wonderful. As I see it, Olson's big mistake was not living a long enough life - not completing his work - not actually having the intelligence to see & feel his life as a complete entity - not actually having the heart (as Spinoza had) to realise that ENERGY & INSTANT are in fact, in essence, the same, & that if one lives a responsible life & looks after ones health because certain things can only be learnt at a certain age & one must live that long at least, then time is consumed & one comes to something real & godly which Olson never managed, despite the promise of the final poems. The archaeologist of morning died TOO young & I miss him.

I got this book out of my library to see if I could get some ideas about what postmodernism might mean to a professional stnad-up comic. The book is itself very funny in places. He accuses the professional philosophers Jacques Derrida and Jaques Lacan of having been Maoist, and claims that Gilles Deleuze and Jean-Francois Lyotard were not. I remember those people from a critical theory class I took from this professor ten years ago when he was saying the same thing.

Olson is always sort of idiosyncratic. He wore a cowboy hat and a paisley shirt to classes.

His boots were pink.

The book he has written here is also idiosyncratic. He mixes weird stuff: like Hegel and Wodehouse in one chapter, and ancient Greek philosophy and modern mystery stories in another chapter. It was fun to see him go in depth.

The basis for humor, as he once pointed out in a class, was that you take two conflicting schemas, two completely opposite ideas, and have them make love. Their boundaries tickle. It's like omparing motorcycles and oranges. There is always a way to do it. Goosebumps, they both roll, they both smell good, and so on, until you get a productive comparison that makes you laugh. Olson keeps working until he gets it.

Olson is doing that through this whole book. It's a hard thing to sustain because it can get so complex that it falls into apostasy. But that's where comedians should be headed. This is sit-down comedy, though. Sit down, and think about it.

I should maybe try to ompare apples and speedboats.

The Great Chicago Fire is brought to life in this graphic book for kids. I found it interesting too. I use the Graphic Library series for my ESOL students who are learning English and learning American History at the same time. It is very tough to do and these books help a lot.

Olson's book is good but only understandable for those with an economics background. If you are not an economist you are going to have trouble understanding what he is trying to say and the concepts he uses across the pages.
For those who have an econ background it is a good book and it provides interesting examples on how economic theory applies to real life, and some of the reasons as to why some economic systems and models do or do not work in reality. However, he seriously lacks some other sociological, demographical, and local aspects of power, prosperity and development; therefore you should not stick only to his theories and keep reading other books to understand why some countries achieve prosperity while others do not.

This book covers aspects of Economics that are only too often neglected. These aspects include how power arrangements affect market efficiency and the effectiveness of markets in meeting consumer demand and providing for propserity. The book also provides accounts of different types of market arangements. In one type of market there is no guarantee other than the honor of the buyer and seller concerning the quality of the product and the terms of payment. Thus the market tends toward basic short term transactions. In the market for which property rights are guaranteed by the social structure, however, market arrangements can be much more complex and much better serve the needs of the people in society.

Power arrangements should be studied in Economics.

And this book should be read by all persons interested in Economics.

Power and Prosperity is an example of economics at its best. First of all, it takes a balanced or neutral approach to its subject matter. The author is not out to prove the superiority of either markets or government. Governmental power is a double edged sword to Olson. Government power promotes prosperity by restraining 'roving bandits' or special interests. Government power is also susceptible to the influence of special interests. Olson also discusses the merits and faults of markets. Markets are ubiquitous and can lead to prosperity, but often do not. Government has a role in this. That is, he finds blame for this in the most negative aspects of government. Olson does not assume market efficiency either. He explains it, as well as some possible limitations to markets.

This is also a highly insightful book. Much of his analysis derives from his earlier work on "the logic of collective action'. He also uses some transaction costs and basic supply and demand/substitution effect reasoning to explain historical events. Students in my comparative classes had more trouble with this book than any other, but it is still manageable. Reading it might be difficult for those who lack an education in economics. But I am not sure if there is an easier way to say what it says, and what it says is most interesting. The concepts the author employs makes a greater understanding of different economic systems and historical periods possible. This is penetrating analysis.

It is also highly relevant. Much of this book focuses on the Soviet Union. One could say that the USSR is a done deal- it failed so forget about it. It is, however, important to understand why it failed so as to avoid repeating such errors in the future. This is what the Author is driving at with in his use of the Soviet example. There were reasons for the failure of the Soviet system that also apply to problems in other nations- not to mention Russia today. The misuse of power has the potential to prevent prosperity as much now as it did under Stalin and Khrushchev.

Does this book have faults? Certainly. Olson takes too positive a view of Stalin's industrialization program (not that he praises Stalin). Olson dismisses complete privatization, or anarchy, too easily. There is nothing wrong with arguing against anarchy. But, his arguments against privatizing the state (i.e private police and courts) are little more than an unsupported dismissal of such arrangements. If he did not want to debate that issue, he should not have taken such a strong stand. He also might have mentioned a few things about FA Hayek- especially on p136 where he wrote "a bureaucracy cannot process all the information needed to calculate an optimal allocation or put it into practice".

While there are a few faults to this book, it is still excellent. It is a must read for anyone interested in either comparative economics and politics, Globalization, or the economic history of the Soviet Union.

In the "Rise and Decline of Nations" Mancur Olson revealed the teacher in himself with a lucid readable account that left the mathematics in the footnotes. It was one of those books that Samuel Britten would give to his bright nephew who wants to know what it is all about without doing the difficult math (with the exception of some graphs in a later chapter, not difficult to interpret, but which the reader can skim over if they are so inclined, for the argument is clearly stated in the text). The "Rise and Decline of Nations", Mancur Olson's prior book for the greater public, is a hard act to follow, but that he does with this sequel, "Power and Prosperity." And how.

"Power and Prosperity" brings the compelling reasoning of Olson's theories of collective action forward with a lucidity and ease unmatched by any other book I have encountered. And yet he still breaks new ground; the prompting was Olson's observations of the former Soviet Russian Federation's failure to rise above anarchy and to harness the power for free markets for the good of her people. In this book Olson answers the question: Why has Russia failed where the West has succeeded?

Olson's use of language is quite outstanding. He uses no big words where simple words will do. He defines the terms of his essay as he goes. He refers the reader to academic publications for those interested in formal proofs. He does not repeat himself except to remind the reader of the main line of argument, which keeps the whole tight and disciplined, yet easy to read.

This book is very strongly recommended for anyone seeking the synthesis of the big picture and a disciplined logical analysis. self with a lucid readable account that left the mathematics in the footnotes. It was one of those books that Samuel Britten would give to his bright nephew who wants to know what it is all about without doing the difficult bits. The "Rise and Decline of Nations" is a hard act to follow, but that Mancur Olson does with "Power and Prosperity." And how.

Parts of this book are a bit slow and more theoretical than I want, but the chapter on the Soviet Union is one of the best economic essays I've ever read.
It convincingly discredits the idea that a misguided ideology led Soviet planners astray, by describing how the policies appear shrewdly designed to maximize Stalin's wealth.
It also provides a compelling explanation of the more recent Soviet and post-Soviet economic problems by documenting the extent to which special interests have made their industry unproductive by adopting work rules/habits designed maximize job security.
I wish I could believe these problems were unique to countries afflicted with communism, but the book's reasoning suggests that many parts of our economy where bureaucracies aren't shut down if they fail to produce valuable results (much of government, businesses in industries with little competition, and I don't know what fraction of nonprofits) are equally wasteful.