I talked with Lisa New about two poems by Stevens — “The Empreror of Ice Cream” and “The Motive for Metaphor.” This discussion is featured with others’ responses to these poems in a new episode of Lisa’s Poetry of America series. HERE is a link to the video recording of...
In September 2019 I returned to the Huntington Library, in San Marino, CA, to participate in a conference on the correspondence of Wallace Stevens. I had begun to work in the Stevens archive in 1982. My visits — several extended — to this magnificent archive (with its library, its botanical...
I was pleased to publish an essay-review of Joan Richardson’s book How to Live. What to Do: Thirteen Ways of Looking at Wallace Stevens (University of Iowa Press, 2018), in the January 22, 2019 winter issue of American Literary History. He is a PDF copy of the review.
I’m pleased to announce that a Wallace Stevens discussion group has just formed in ModPo—moderated by Sanjeev Naik. Click HERE to go directly to the discussion. If you are not enrolled in ModPo yet (it’s free), click HERE to enroll.
Back in 1986 I wrote a review of a book on Wallace Stevens by Charles Berger titled Forms of Farewell. I’ve made this old review available through the Scholarly Commons, so you can read it HERE. Berger’s most striking reading in this book is that of “Auroras of Autumn,” which he...
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon,
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World, Modernism from Left to Right, and Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60. His new book is 1960: When Art & Literature Confronted the Memory of World War II & Remade the Modern (Columbia University Press, 2021). He is currently writing a book about online pedagogy. He has taught a massive open online course, "ModPo," to 265,000 participants in 192 countries since 2012.
Founder/Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House—intro video ][ events calendar
Convener/teacher, “ModPo.” an open online course on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry—overview of the course ][ intro video
Publisher of Jacket2 magazine—my Jacket2 commentary series ][ "First Readings"
Producer/host, PoemTalk podcast series—co-sponsored by Kelly Writers House & the Poetry Foundation
Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing—Creative Writing ][ RealArts internships ]
Co-founder & co-director of PennSound—50,000 files ][ 15 million downloads annually
Teacher & host, "Kelly Writers House Fellows"—since 1999 ][ Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, Jamaica Kincaid, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Rich, Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman & more
Teacher, "Representations of the Holocaust"—a course on survivor testimony ][ my holocaust site
Click on the image for information about the book.