A Gift That Cannot Be Refused: The Writing and Publishing of Contemporary American Poetry

(Hardback)

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This unique work is the first book to bring systematically gathered and analyzed data to bear on the question of how contemporary poetry reaches the American public. It explores the publishing patterns, experiences, methods, motivations, and rewards of 203 living American poets from 1950 through 1980. Although all the poets have published quite widely, including at least one poetry book, they range from the little-known to the famous, from the well-established to the relatively young, from those who write in more or less traditional forms to the highly experimental. Among the many poets who cooperated in the study are Philip Levine, Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsberg, Theodore Enslin, Maxine Kumin, May Swenson, Donald Justice, William Stafford, Mona Van Duyn, Robert Hass, and Robert Pinsky. The book also explores the roles played by the major categories of periodicals that publish poetry-general interest magazines, academic literary journals, and independent little magazines. Commercial book presses, university presses, and small presses are also tracked and analyzed. Information for this study was obtained from various sources, including the many hundreds of little magazines and academic literary journals published throughout the thirty years; published interviews, with articles and statements by the 203 poets; and an extensive questionnaire survey sent to the poets, as well as many expansive letters that accommodate their returned questionnaires. Two chapters frame the findings. Chapter 1 surveys the publishing of American poetry from approximately 1900 through the 1940s, highlighting important tendencies and trends that continued through 1980. Chapter 8 surveys American poetry publishing since 1980, paying special attention to the major change during this decade: the dramatic decline in public funding for nonprofit literary enterprises. This volume should appeal to those interested in the sociology of publishing, American literature, or creative writing.

Reviews

. . . . A Gift That Cannot Be Refused is a unique work. It is thorough, sympathetic, and clearly written and is a valuable addition for libraries, especially for academic libraries at institutions that include creative writing courses, since it gives such a realistic picture of the life of the writer of high poetry . . . .-The Library Quarterly
Biggs has made a genuine contribution to our understanding of American literary institutions. Her study is based on evidence gathered from 203 poets publishing in the period 1950-80. She scrutinizes where the poets published, how they published, and why they published. Her letters and questionnaires were framed to reveal attitudes and assumptions as well as facts, so we learn much about subjective factors: what women and minorities think about the establishment, what poets believe about the role of in-groups and friendships in literary success (especially where prizes are concerned). There are interesting statistics on the prestige factor: we find out which presses and magazines are most highly regarded. Anxieties are expressed about such recent institutions as the writing workshop and the writing business' newsletters (the Associated Writing Programs bulletins and Coda, the magazine published by Poets--Writers, Inc.). The historical context provided by the first chapter, The Publishing of Poetry Before 1950, ' is valuable. There is much to mull over in this work: tables, statistics--the hard evidence--and hundreds of interesting observations by individuals, all of whom are devoted to their craft, many of whom are a bit cynical about po' biz.' The reader may understand Emily Dickinson's reluctance to publish, an act she found as foreign as 'Firmament to Fin.'-Choice
." . . . A Gift That Cannot Be Refused is a unique work. It is thorough, sympathetic, and clearly written and is a valuable addition for libraries, especially for academic libraries at institutions that include creative writing courses, since it gives such a realistic picture of the life of the writer of high poetry . . . ."-The Library Quarterly
"Biggs has made a genuine contribution to our understanding of American literary institutions. Her study is based on evidence gathered from 203 poets publishing in the period 1950-80. She scrutinizes where the poets published, how they published, and why they published. Her letters and questionnaires were framed to reveal attitudes and assumptions as well as facts, so we learn much about subjective factors: what women and minorities think about the establishment, what poets believe about the role of in-groups and friendships in literary success (especially where prizes are concerned). There are interesting statistics on the prestige factor: we find out which presses and magazines are most highly regarded. Anxieties are expressed about such recent institutions as the writing workshop and the writing business' newsletters (the Associated Writing Programs bulletins and Coda, the magazine published by Poets--Writers, Inc.). The historical context provided by the first chapter, The Publishing of Poetry Before 1950, ' is valuable. There is much to mull over in this work: tables, statistics--the hard evidence--and hundreds of interesting observations by individuals, all of whom are devoted to their craft, many of whom are a bit cynical about po' biz.' The reader may understand Emily Dickinson's reluctance to publish, an act she found as foreign as 'Firmament to Fin.'"-Choice

Author Bio

MARY BIGGS is Director of Libraries at Mercy College in Westchester County, New York and an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University School of Library Service. Dr. Biggs has served as an Editor or Co-editor for a number of titles, including Editor's Choice II: Poetry, Fiction, and Art from the U.S. Small Press, 1978-1983, Men & Women: Together & Alone and Publishers and Librarians: A Foundation for Dialogue.