Friday, December 30, 2011

The Coverage of Rita Dove's Anthology

Individual volumes and anthologies of poetry are typically published with little coverage in the news media. That could have been the fate with The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry (2011) edited by Rita Dove. However, the spotlight on Dove's anthology gained increasing attention after Helen Vendler offered a harsh critique of the book.

The tone of Vendler's critique and Dove's subsequent response led more and more commentators to chime in on the book and on the Dove and Vendler disagreement. I've provided a round-up of commentary on the anthology and the disagreement.

Sept 16:  Shaking Up the Canon: PW Talks with Dove, Craig Teicher, Publishers Weekly
Sept. 19: The Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry, Publishers Weekly
Oct. 21: New anthology...on 20th century verse, Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune
Oct. 30: Don't miss Dove's intro to poetry anthology, Richard Wakefield, Seattle Times
Nov. 13: Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry, Jan Gardner, Boston Globe
Nov:: Are These Poems to Remember?, Helen Vendler, The New York Review of Books
Nov. 1: Shelf Life, Jeremy Bass, The Nation
Dec.: Defending an Anthology, Rita Dove, The New York Review of Books
Dec. 2: Dove Defends Anthology, Harriet Staff, Poetry Foundation
Dec. 10: Is This the Vendler to Remember?, Marguerite MarĂ­a Rivas, AROHO Speaks
Dec. 12: A Conversation with Rita Dove, Jericho Brown, The Best American Poetry Blog
Dec. 13: The Politics in Poetry: Vendler vs. Dove, Jay Adler, the sad red earth
Dec. 13: Helen Vendler, Rita Dove, and the Changing Canon of Poetry, The Takeaway
Dec. 16: Dove Connects Poets' Intergenerational Conversations, NewsHour Poetry Series
Dec. 18: Penguin's Flightless Anthology, John Olson, Tillalala Chronicles blog
Dec. 20: Bloodletting over an Anthology, Peter Monaghan, Chronicle of Higher Education
Dec. 21: The Dove Anthology, Second Wind, R. T. Smith, Shenandoah Literary Org
Dec. 22: Poetry anthology sparks race row, Alison Flood, Guardian
Dec. 28: Race and American Poetry: Dove v. Vendler, Jonathan Farmer, The Millions 

2012
Jan. 2: Rita Dove On New Anthology, Advice for Young Poets, NPR

5 comments:

Dr. Deborah Smith Pollard said...

Thank you so much for this list! I intend to use it as I am discussing the canon wars.

C Murray said...

Thank you for this, I was wondering about a collation of the Dove/Vendler articles.

having watched the media-led dispute pan out in horror.

Anonymous said...

Outstanding list and contribution!! I was given the anthology as a Christmas Gift from a friend who's world view is quite different from my own. We have very tough discussions regarding poetry according to whose perspective. I was outraged by Vendler's NY Times book review and applauded Dove's response. Loving your list! Thanks again!! AMA

Anonymous said...

This anthology is a terrible farce. People who apply racial and gender agendas to the arts set our culture and our nation backwards. Shame on Dove and Penguin. Poetry needs far, far, far better than this.

Anonymous said...

Another response from the world of poetry: http://baronwormser.com/pdfs/22_Wormser_Vendler_versus_Dove.pdf