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Listed below are excerpts, citations, and links to articles that contribute to the discussion of "Created Spaces." As indicated, some of these works were written specifically with Ashbery's domestic environments and/or the Created Spaces concept in mind. But a number of these resources inform this issue while not addressing it directly; for example, critical approaches may provide descriptions of Ashbery's poetry that are fascinating for the ways they intersect with the Created Spaces concepts, or they may offer theoretical frameworks that lend themselves to the investigations presented on these pages.
Please keep in mind that the citations below are not intended to provide answers or pinpoint meanings. The Created Spaces project is a work-in-progress, and the Ashbery Resource Center hopes to enrich explorations of Ashbery's domestic environments by directing readers to these useful resources. Readers interested in learning more about a particular issue will find it helpful to browse the annotated, online catalogue, which is continuously updated.
Jump to citations by specific critics: Nina Shengold; Brice Brown; August Kleinzahler; David Herd; John Ash; Richard Sennett
- Nina Shengold's profile of Ashbery in the Chronogram describes his Hudson home and the ways it might be viewed as "physical poetry" ("Perennial Voyager: John Ashbery at Home," Chronogram [Hudson Valley Edition], 2007 September, pp. 56-58; also reprinted in Capital Region Edition, 2007 November).
- Brice Brown discussed Ashbery's New York City apartment and his home in Hudson in Issue 2 of the Sienese Shredder: "The notion of an artist fabricating their environment in order to better encourage the muse’s juices is not a new one. But the domestic concept informing Ashbery’s two homes is a more complex and nuanced affair, and is similar in scope to Balthus’ Chateau de Chassy, Frederick Church’s Olana, or Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s Charleston Farmhouse. His homes are as engaging and vital as the poems he writes. And of the two, his country home is of particular interest, and can be viewed not only for its interesting historical architecture, but as a vast well of inspiration for the production of his poems, and even as one of his most fully realized works of art." ("Any Interpretation Will Do," Sienese Shredder, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 20-23)
- August Kleinzahler’s review of Lee Harwood’s Collected Poems in the London Review of Books (19 May 2005, “Toss the Monkey Wrench,” pp. 29-30) includes much astute discussion of Ashbery’s work that is relevant to Created Spaces concepts.
Kleinzahler quotes Harwood on Pound and the collage technique, then on Tzara, then on O’Hara: “But John Ashbery was really pivotal for me in shifting from what I now consider as verse to writing poetry. It wasn’t so much his writing—though I did love his tone of voice and his style (as a man)—but that he showed me how writing was like creating a world (like a toy theatre, like a Cornell box) that a reader is invited to enter, wander around in, and add their own two cents to. [...]
Ashbery is not especially difficult, except in his more abstract poetry. He is interested in design: the trajectories and contrails of meaning generate arabesques, much as a performer twirls coloured handkerchiefs. The thing to watch for, his best trick, is the insertion of something poignant amid the dizzying spectacle, thus sandbagging the reader. But this effect is usually well disguised.” (p. 29)
- David Herd's interview with Ashbery includes a brief discussion about the act of collecting in relation to poetry. Ashbery likens his poetry to "a kind of cabinet of curios." ("John Ashbery in Conversation," P.N. Review, Volume 21, Issue #1, Number 99, 1994 September/October, pp. 32-27)
- John Ash's interview with Ashbery discusses Ashbery's apartment in Chelsea, his house in Hudson, his childhood home, and the architecture of poems. ("John Ashbery in Conversation with John Ash," P.N. Review, Volume 12, Issue #2, Number 46 [Special Issue], 1985, pp. 31-34)
- Richard Sennett's book The Conscience of the Eye: The Design and Social Life of Cities draws a connection between the John Ashbery poem "Litany" and the design of the Guggenheim Museum. Read an excerpt here.
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