Poetry and Revolution

At a point when creative forms of resistance are coming to define and determine the course of the global revolution, questions of language, metaphor, and aesthetics have become increasingly significant to those who seek to change the world. Taking up Marx’s distinction between changing and interpreting the world, we often think of poetry as something that obscures rather than promotes direct action. In this course, we will explore the tension between interpretation and change, expression and activity, thinking and acting. We will think about how poetry, or the mode of interpreting metaphorical language more generally, presents new ideas about revolutionary potential. We’ll read several essays that situate this discussion in the framework of Marx’s poetry of the revolution in The Communist Manifesto, writings on postwar debates about aesthetics and politics, and work by Bertolt Brecht, Anna Ahkmatova, Adonis, Diane di Prima, Joshua Clover, and others. This list is tentative and can be adapted based on interest. Meetings will be held in a reading group style, with the possibility of a collaborative blog as a means of collecting various references and readings.

see wordpress site for tentative reading schedule and more information.
http://revolupoetry.wordpress.com/