Thus Spake the Corpse : An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998 : Volume 1, Poetry & Essays [Paperback]

Andrei Codrescu (Author), Andrei Codrescu; Laura Rosenthal (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1574231006 | ISBN-13: 978-1574231007 | Publication Date: July 1, 1999 | Edition: 1st

From 1983 to 1998, Exquisite Corpse: A Journal of Books & Ideas delighted the indignant and the sophisticated and gave heartburn to the fearful and the tenured. A thorn in the side of the Literary Establishment, it attracted a cadre of contributors united by a kind of suicidal fearlessness against The Way We Think Now. Here, in two generous volumes, the editors choose some of their favorite items from an over-rich decade. These are the pieces that set the standard, enraged some people, and made the magazine necessary to those readers who, in the words of the editors, "banged their fists on unread stacks of New Yorkers and cried out as one, 'Where were you when we were dying for lack of real poetry and speculation?' "

Highlights: Poetry by Antler, James Broughton, Hayden Carruth, Tom Clark, Robert Creeley, John Giorno, Anselm Hollo, David Ignatow, James Laughlin, Gerard Malanga, Joel Oppenheimer, James Purdy, Carl Rakosi, Ed Sanders, and ninety (90!) others. Three dozen essays, including "Is Literature Useful?" by Georges Bataille, "The American Male," by Kay Boyle, "The Sur(region)alist Manifesto," by Max Cafard, "My Abortion," by Deborah Salazar, and "Letters from the Proud Highway," by Hunter S. Thompson. The best of Laura Rosenthal's column "The Body Bag," which responded to would-be contributors with witty encouragement and, occasionally, devastating criticism. And letters from Clayton Eshleman, Edward Field, Ishmael Reed, and others.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The feisty, informal journal Exquisite Corpse gathered a remarkably loyal bohemian following over its 15 years of existence, ceasing paper publication in 1998. (It's now a frequently updated Web site). Founder, poet and NPR commentator Codrescu and co-conspirator Rosenthal offer up a large inventory of their favorite essays, diatribes, letters, responses and poems from the Corpse's last decade. Thus Spake opens with 142 pages of essays on political and literary topics: writers assail predictable targets (Ronald Reagan, Puritans, Wendell Berry), or else meditate on androgyny, sex before Clinton or poetic activism after Ginsberg. Along with the sometimes-ranting essays, the editors do well to include the often more reasonable letters of response. Objectivist poet Carl Rakosi reflects on the heyday of American Communism as he answers Eliot Weinberger's program-piece; Murat Nemet-Nejat, Clayton Eshleman and Ben Friedlander engage in vigorous debate about Edmond Jab?s. The Corpse was well-feared among poets for its "Body Bag" section, comprising the editors' comments on submissions they had rejected. Thirty pages here reprint the Body Bag's famously sarcastic, sometimes elevated, remarks. The volume's weakest part is the poetry itself, 200 pages clogged with talky mediocrity. Strong work does turn up from Anselm Hollo, Hayden Carruth, Edmund Berrigan and Alice Notley (separately and in collaboration), and from the late Jim Gustafson and Elio Schneeman. But much of the rest of the verse here is neither sexy nor accomplished, a slapdash, too-generous roundup of popular styles from post-Beat to pre-slam eras. But the many diehard Corpse fans may not mind; thrill-seekers might even like it. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Our Holocaust: 2 Hours From Heathrow by Samuel Abrams
Impulse And Nothingness by Will Alexander
The Water Dog by Will Alexander
Against Science Fiction by Jack Anderson
Golf by Jack Anderson
Lucky Trees by Antler [pseud.]
My Father by Brent H. Askari
Pastiche Of My Subjectivity by Paul Baepler
From His Hotel Room In Paris by Aliki Barnstone
When Will Uncle Vania Take The Train To Moscow? by Willis Barnstone
Boat by Tree Bernstein
On The Premises by Anselm Berrigan
Brick Tea by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
In Time by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Poem by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
Poverty by Edmund Joseph Berrigan
The Swirl Of Your Hands by David Brinks
Memos From Big Joy by James Richard Broughton
Terminal Reports: I Sleep With Elegies by James Richard Broughton
Terminal Reports: Thinking About Death by James Richard Broughton
Home Alone by Kenneth H. Brown
Farewell To Texas Poem by Ronnie Burk
July 4th, 1994 by Ronnie Burk
Karl Marx's Eyes by Gerald Burns
Pendant Eros by Gerald Burns
Work Is Speech by Gerald Burns
How The Word 'coox' Came To Represent Beelzebub by Rebecca Byrkit
Free Advice by Joe Cardarelli
The Miserable Student by Joe Cardarelli
Penultimate Sublime by Joe Cardarelli
The First Date by Hayden Carruth
She Said It by Hayden Carruth
Academic by Thomas Willard Clark
Artificial Light by Thomas Willard Clark
Joe by Thomas Willard Clark
My Hypertrophic Devotion by Thomas Willard Clark
Old Photo by Thomas Willard Clark
Sonar by Thomas Willard Clark
Time (2) by Thomas Willard Clark
Between Shit & Shinola by Ira Cohen
Dream 1812 by Wanda Coleman
The Aroma Of Angels by Richard Collins
The Sweetness Of Life by Richard Collins
In The Black Forest Before The Birth Of Rilke by Conrad
Bodybuilder by James M. Cory
Goodbye by Robert Creeley
Condo, Condom, Condemnation by Joel Dailey
Nana: On Contraceptives by Mark Decarteret
Nana: On Crucifixion by Mark Decarteret
Nana: On Food by Mark Decarteret
Nana: On Kerouac by Mark Decarteret
Nana: On Women by Mark Decarteret
Letter #6 by Ray Dipalma
Metropolitan Corridor, Sels. by Ray Dipalma
Closing Time by Buck Downs
Longing by Buck Downs
Myself Contains Multitudes by Buck Downs
The Future Of Vaginas And Penises by Denise Duhamel
Berthold Brecht Enters Heaven by Richard Elman
Fuck Me by Maggie Estep
Post Masturbatio by Edward Field
Waiting For The Communists by Edward Field
This Is A Thank You To That Fat Bouncer God Who Threw Me Out When At by Susan Firer
Living The Lie by Joan Fisher
Play And The Continual Present by Joan Fisher
Alice Gaines Played The Harp by David Franks
The Operation by David Franks
A Vision For You by David Franks
Higher Authority by Gloria Lynn Frym
Radical Comma by Gloria Lynn Frym
Theory Sonnet by Gloria Lynn Frym
In My Boozy Loneliness by Greg Fuchs
Scum & Slime by John Giorno
Sucking Mud by John Giorno
The Opposite Of Gravity Is Humor by Jill Gonet
Cute Is Better Than Bitter by Jim Gustafson
Plug-ugly And Multifarious by Jim Gustafson
Some Of The Things I Told Her by Jim Gustafson
The Right Thing To Do Or Not To Do by Laurie Halbritter
I Probably Would Have Made A Good Little Nazi by Mark Hallman
February by Alfred Starr Hamilton
God by Alfred Starr Hamilton
New York City Public Library Lions by Alfred Starr Hamilton
Emptier Planet by Anselm Hollo
Letter To Uncle O by Anselm Hollo
Not A Form At All But A State Of Mind: 1-12 by Anselm Hollo
Script Mist by Anselm Hollo
Wings Over Maximus by Anselm Hollo
Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Bob Holman
Legacy by Stokes Howell
A Closet Named Love by David Ignatow
Episode by David Ignatow
Once Upon A Time by David Ignatow
Separate Windows by David Ignatow
Borrowed Sleep by Lorri Jackson
Flipping Through by Lorri Jackson
Rim by Lorri Jackson
Carrots by James Laughlin
The Day I Was Dead by James Laughlin
The Old Man's Lament by James Laughlin
Rhyme by James Laughlin
The Sufis by James Laughlin
If You Really Want To Work by James Lineberger
Fever Vortex #666 by Adrian C. Louis
White Bread Blues by Adrian C. Louis
Tits by Anne Macnaughton
Armed Humanitarians by Amalio Madueno
Hermaphroditismus Genitalis by Gerard Joseph Malanga
Tampons In Space by Janet Mason
Thank You by Clive Matson
Princess Bride by Michael Thomas Mcclure
The Rose Of Sharon by Sharon Mesmer
Rub On A Thigh by Denise Noe
Bluebirdness by Pat Nolan
California State Of Mind by Pat Nolan
Common Cold by Pat Nolan
Wine Not by Pat Nolan
Angel-skate by Alice Notley
Pregnant Saint by Alice Notley
Sir Ventes On A Sad Occurrence by Joel Oppenheimer
Dromedary by Dana Pattillo
Voice Of The World by Robert J. Perchan
Crazy Bill To The Bishop by Robert Peters
The Darkling Chicken by Robert Peters
Feathered Friends by Robert Peters
A Study In Aesthetics by Robert Peters
Erotics by Simon Pettet
Why I Write by Holly Prado
Jan Erik by James Purdy
The Sex Life Of Politicians by Peter Rabbit
Country Epitaphs by Carl Rakosi
The Irish Boy by Carl Rakosi
Ships Passing In The Night by Carl Rakosi
Punk Rock by Brett Ralph
Not Fucking: A Complex System by Suzanne Rhodenbaugh
Permanent Face by Laura Rosenthal
Time's Ma by Laura Rosenthal
The Question Of Fame by Edward Sanders
They by Elio Schneeman
Wanted: Frycook by Ernie Seals
Poetry Lives by Ravi Singh
All In The Family by Hal Sirowitz
Hal's Mom by Hal Sirowitz
Mom & Dad by Hal Sirowitz
Some Names Of Venus From Lempriere's Classical Dictionary by Dale Smith
Mercy by Marc Swan
Famous For Fifteen Minutes by William Talcott
The Function Of Art by William Talcott
Genealogy by William Talcott
Rome In The Age Of Justinian by Karl Tierney
Death Trip by Mike Topp
Favorite Color by Mike Topp
Flaubert's Kitchen by Mike Topp
Police Story by Mike Topp
The Seven Deadly Sins by Mike Topp
What Do Books Say? by Mike Topp
My Mother by Anonymous
The Evidence Was Slight by Nanos Valaoritis
Schizophrenia by Thomas L. Vaultonburg
Ctesias by Paul Randolph Violi
Herodotus by Paul Randolph Violi
Lucian by Paul Randolph Violi
Xenophon by Paul Randolph Violi
Eyeglasses by Ionna-veronika Warwick
The Martini Clinic by Patricia Wilson
In The Dream Of Love by Jeff Wright
On The Line by Jeff Wright
Ramming Speed by Jeff Wright
Senr Yu by Arizona Zipper
The River by Nina Zivancevic
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Paperback: 417 pages
• Publisher: Black Sparrow Press; 1st edition (July 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574231006
• ISBN-13: 978-1574231007
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,433,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wicked fun reading, October 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thus Spake the Corpse : An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998 : Volume 1, Poetry & Essays (Paperback)

I miss the now-defunct "Exquisite Corpse," the most original and maybe the best American literary magazine of the 1990s. This greatest hits collection from the Corpse is a pleasure to read. Until I discovered the Corpse, I thought American literature had become the moribound property of academics and the Iowa Writers Finishing School. These essays and poems are wicked fun and thought-provoking.

By the way, the Exquisite Corpse has now become a cyber-publication.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The wittiest, brightest writing of the last decade., September 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thus Spake the Corpse : An Exquisite Corpse Reader 1988-1998 : Volume 1, Poetry & Essays (Paperback)

I generally avoid poetry and literary essays, but a friend passed this along to me--and thank heavens she did. If you despair that dead academic writing and predictable journalistic writing represents the best that's out there, despair no more and buy a copy of this witty & bright anthology. Great fun & deeply thought-provoking.