West of the American Dream

by Christensen, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780890967539
• ISBN10: 0890967539
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

Like many a pioneer exiting the eastern forests, Paul Christensen felt the strangeness of an alien landscape when he first arrived in Texas in 1974. Schooled in the cool colors of life and poetry in the urban East, he approached his new career in the Southwest with missionary zeal and purpose: to discover the land and the kind of people and poetry it produced.

West of the American Dream is a multifaceted account of that search. Christensen shares his feelings of culture shock in east-central Texas as he meets the cowboy version of the blue-collar Texan and his Mexican American neighbors. He introduces readers to the convoluted history of poetry in Texas, which shifted from a focus on the land to the habits of urban living. Christensen assesses the origins of modern poetry, the value of imagination, and what Texas poets achieved and how their work evolved after World War II.

Taking a break here and there to describe characters who crossed his path, Christensen then presents three portraits of modern Texas artist/poets -- Vassar Miller, Charles Gordone, and R

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vi
Preface	vii
First Things	3	(25)
Of Underworlds	28	(20)
Poetry Readings	48	(22)
I and Thou	70	(27)
``Good-by, you big lummax, I'm glad you backed out''	97	(22)
A Photo Album	119	(29)
The Imagination	148	(23)
How to Read a Poem	171	(39)
Democratic Vistas	210	(29)
A Portrait of Vassar Miller	239	(16)
A Portrait of Charles Gordone	255	(20)
A Portrait of Ricardo Sanchez	275	(12)
``The Simple Bitter Sap''	287	(22)
Epilogue	309	(8)
Notes	317	(10)
Index	327