Susan Howe

Nato / Born
Boston, Massachusetts, USA / 1937

Susan Howe is an American poet and critic who has been closely associated with the Language poets, among others. Her work has often been classified as Postmodern, and it expands traditional notions of genre (fiction, essay, poetry). Her books are layered with historical, mythical and other references, and contain lyrical echos of sound yet they are never pinned down by a consistent metrical pattern or traditional poetic rhyme scheme.

Howe is author of a number of books of poetry, including Europe of Trusts: Selected Poems (1990), Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979 (1996) and The Midnight (2003), and two books of criticism, The Birth-Mark: Unsettling the Wilderness in American Literary History (1993) and My Emily Dickinson (1985). Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, and the important Language School gathering of poets: In the American Tree (edited by Ron Silliman).

In 2003, Howe started collaborating with experimental musician David Grubbs. The results were released on two CDs: Thiefth (featuring the poems Thorow and Melville’s Marginalia) and Songs of the Labadie Tract.

Bibliography

  * The End of Art (1974)
  * Hinge Picture (1974)
  * Chanting at the Crystal Sea (1975)
  * Secret History of the Dividing Line (1978)
  * The Western Borders (1979)
  * Cabbage Gardens (1979)
  * The Liberties (1980)
  * Pythagorean Silence (1982)
  * Defenestration of Prague (1983)
      o “The Liberties”
  * My Emily Dickinson (1985; reissued 2007)
  * Incloser (1985)
  * Heliopathy (1986)
  * Articulation of Sound Forms in Time (1987)
  * A Bibliography of the King’s Book, or Eikon Basilike’ (1989)
  * The Europe of Trusts (1990)
      o “Pythagorean Silence”
      o “Defenestration of Prague”
      o “The Liberties”
  * Singularities (1990)
      o “Articulation of Sound Forms in Time”
      o “Thorow”
      o “Scattering as Behavior Towards Risk”
  * Silence Wager Stories (1992)
  * The Nonconformist’s Memorial (1993)
      o “The Nonconformist’s Memorial”
      o “Silence Wager Stories”
      o “A Bibliography of the King’s Book, or Eikon Basilike”
      o “Melville’s Marginalia”
  * The Birth-mark: Unsettling the Wilderness in American literary History (1993)
      o “Submarginalia”
      o “Incloser”
      o “Quasi-marginalia”
      o “The Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson”
      o “These Flames and Generosities of the Heart”
      o “Talisman interview with Edward Foster”
  * Interview with Lynn Keller (1995)
  * Frame Structures (1996)
      o “Hinge Picture”
      o “Chanting at the Crystal Sea”
      o “Cabbage Gardens”
      o “Secret History of the Dividing Line”
  * Pierce-Arrow (1999)
  * Deux Et (1998)
  * Bed Hangings I (2001)
  * Bed Hangings II (2002)
  * Kidnapped (2002)
  * The Midnight (2003)
      o “Bed Hangings I + II”
      o “Scare Quotes I + II”
      o “Kidnapped”
  * Souls of the Labadie Tract (2007)
  * My Emily Dickinson (2007 reissue of 1985 publication)