Emerson and an homage to the common : retranslation from Persian poetry as an act of fortitude and resistance

Emerson and an homage to the common : retranslation from Persian poetry as an act of fortitude and resistance

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882

Persian poetry -- Translations into English

Kirbach, Stephen Mark

2006

Addison, Elizabeth Hodnett, 1946-

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61732

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Emerson's work on retranslating Persian poetry from German sources is examined in the context of his theoretical poetics. As part of his writing process, these retranslations furthermore reflect upon his struggle against received convention to find a more appropriate form; this struggle, in turn, hinges upon his conflicting notions of originality and influence. At the same time, Emerson's resistance to institutional bureaucracy in various contexts peppers his writings, and this in subordination on Emerson's part places any critical study of his work into a conundrum of either acquiescing to or resisting the academic institutionalization of literature. Taking Emerson at his word, that all such acquiescence and conformity must be challenged, the relevancy of literary studies as currently practiced in large universities is thereby questioned with the idea that such questioning in turn moves that study toward an appropriate response to current real human and environmental crises. The aesthetic of the poem as a commodity is thus challenged, as cynicism, and a preferable alternative aesthetic of poiesis as activism is proposed.

2014-09-07

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