Writing Dialogues, Reading Myths: Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and the Publication of Kora in Hell
Keywords:
William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, avant-garde, poetry, experimentationAbstract
This article analyzes the publication of William Carlos Williams' Kora in Hell (1920) as a turning point in his literary career. The paper explores how the book's poetic prose fragments, influenced by French symbolists and various literary genres, marked the beginning of a new creative period for Williams. The study examines the role of literary dialogues with Ezra Pound and other writers such as Arthur Rimbaud and Pietro Metastasio in shaping the text. The author contends that the publication history of Kora in Hell reveals the complex interplay between personal relationships and literary innovation. This work investigates how Williams' experimental techniques, including explanatory remarks and structural innovations, contributed to the avant-garde nature of the text. The article demonstrates the significance of Kora in Hell as a pivotal work that expanded the boundaries of traditional literary conceptions.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
References
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Christopher Ricks. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1989.
Nay, Joan. “William Carlos Williams and the Singular Woman.” William Carlos Williams Review IX. 2 (Fall 1985).
Perloff, Marjorie. The Poetics of Indeterminacy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1981.
Riddel, Joseph. Modernism and the Counterpoetics of William Carlos Williams. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1974.
Taupin, René. The Influence of French Symbolism on Modern American Poetry. Trans. William and Anne Rich Pratt. New York: AMS Press, 1985.
Thirlwall, John, ed. The Selected Letters of Williams Carlos Williams. New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1957.
Weaver, Mike. William Carlos Williams: The American Background. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1971.
Witemeyer, Hugh, ed. Pound/Williams: Selected Letters of Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams. New York: New Directions, 1996.
Williams, William Carlos. The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams. New York: New Directions, 1961.
-----. I Wanted to Write a Poem: The Autobiography of the Works of a Poet. Ed. Edith Heal. New York: New Directions, 1978.
-----. Imaginations. Ed. Webster Schott. New York: New Directions, 1970.
-----. “Improvisations.” The Little Review IV. 7 (October 1917), IV. 9 (November 1918), V. 11 (April 1919), VI. 1 (May 1919), VI. 2 (June 1919).
-----. Paterson. Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1992.
