The Geography of the Imagination
Forty Essays

Our liveliest literary tradition, as usual, is an unknown, even an unsuspected one. Being fair, I likely rounded up as I think this would've been pristine were it 31 or 32 essays rather than 40. Many reviewers have noted that this is a master class of sorts; well, it is of a certain reading/poetic id......more

I don't know whether it would have been inspiring or overwhelming to have attended Guy Davenport's classes at the University of Kentucky. I imagine it might have been a bit of both of those worlds. Luckily, his books exist and one can pick, choose, and read at one's own leisure without being overwhe......more

A selection of essays, many of which discuss various modernist writers including Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Charles Olson and Marianne Moore. One thing I particularly like about a few of the essays is that many of the points Davenport makes in his discussions of painting and literature seem exclusive t......more

HO-LY SHIT. This. This book is a godsend. A pure display of unmatched intellect which never ceases to unveil art and ideas previously unknown. A veritable gateway drug to the likes of Louis Zukofsky, Charles Olson, Marianne Moore, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Paul Metcalf, and so, so many more. This is th......more

Best American essayist of the last 50 years. No...make that 55 years.......more