Physics Envy
American Poetry and Science in the Cold War and After
At the close of the Second World War, modernist poets found themselves in an increasingly scientific world, where natural and social sciences claimed exclusive rights to knowledge of both matter and mind. Following the overthrow of the Newtonian worldview and the recent, shocking displays of the power of the atom, physics led the way, with other disciplines often turning to the methods and discoveries of physics for inspiration. In "Physics Envy", Peter Middleton examines the influence of science, particularly physics, on American poetry since World War II. He focuses on such diverse poets as Charles Olson, Muriel Rukeyser, Amiri Baraka, and Rae Armantrout, among others, revealing how the methods and language of contemporary natural and social sciences – and even the discourse of the leading popular science magazine Scientific American – shaped their work. The relationship, at times, extended in the other direction as well: leading physicists such as Robert Oppenheimer, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrodinger were interested in whether poetry might help them explain the strangeness of the new, quantum world".Physics Envy" is a history of science and poetry that shows how ultimately each serves to illuminate the other in its quest for the true nature of things.
Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Poetry and Science
1. The Poetic Universe: Mapping Interrelations between Modern American Poetry and the Sciences
2. What the Physicist Said to the Poet: How Physicists Used the Ideal of Poetry to Talk about Uncertainty
Part II: Midcentury
3. Projective Verse: Fields in Science and Poetics at Midcentury
4. Conceptual Schemes: The Midcentury Poetics of Muriel Rukeyser and Charles Olson
5. Stories, Geometries, and Angels: Muriel Rukeyser, Charles Olson, and Robert Duncan in the 1950s
Part III: Scientific Americans
6. Scientific American Poetry: Rae Armantrout, Jackson Mac Low, and Robert Duncan
7. Defying Social Science: George Oppen and Amiri Baraka
Coda
Notes
Index
About the Author
Peter Middleton is professor of English at the University of Southampton. He is the author of three books of scholarship, most recently "Distant Reading: Performance, Readership, and Consumption in Contemporary Poetry", and a book of poetry, "Aftermath"; and he is the co-editor of "Teaching Modernist Poetry". He lives in Southampton.
Reviews
"Middleton explores insightfully and sensitively how American poets from Rukeyser to Armantrout respond to poetry's de-privileging as a source of epistemological knowledge; it is genuinely exciting to see prominent scientists such as Oppenheimer and Feynman, as well as an array of mid-twentieth-century social scientists, treated as thinkers who can help us better understand Cold War-era literature. As always, Middleton is an acute analyst, writing lucidly whether treating abstruse concepts in nuclear physics or presenting the ins and outs of experimental verse. 'Physics Envy' is a delight to read" – Brian M. Reed, author of "Nobody's Business: Twenty-First Century Avant-Garde Poetics"
"We know a good deal about the cold war era's investment in science, but we know less about the extent to which poets drew upon the contributions of quantum physics, cybernetics, and relativity theory in forging a new poetics. Peter Middleton makes an excellent case for the generative impact of science on open field poetics, showing how Charles Olson, Muriel Rukeyser, Robert Duncan, and others adapted (and occasionally mis-read) the work of Heisenberg, Weiner, Schrodinger and social scientists like Kurt Lewin. 'Physics Envy' is the definitive treatment of a vital conversation between poetic theory and scientific innovation in the postwar period" – Michael Davidson, author of "Bleed Through: New and Selected Poems"
"An original and valuable contribution to our understanding of the relations between poetry and the sciences in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Especially of interest are the close readings of articles, whole issues, and advertisements from 'Scientific American' in relation to specific poems and sequences – a fruitful approach, and, given 'Scientific American's' success and status as the publication presenting the public face of science in North America, an excellent way to reveal the multiplicity and nuance of poetic practice in its engagement with scientific language, values, and discoveries" – Katy Price, author of "Loving Faster Than Light: Romance and Readers in Einstein's Universe"
