Philip Metres

Scholarship and Reviews

Books

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Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront since 1941.  Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 2007.

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"Metres offers a strong riposte to cultural critics who dismiss poetry as monologic and ahistorical; it shows the abiding critical function of the genre by poets who have not only thematized the horrors of war but participated actively in its opposition. At a moment when narrative has become the generic default for cultural criticism, Behind the Lines restores poetry to its important function as a socially symbolic form."—Michael Davidson, University of California, San Diego

Articles

"Remaking/Unmaking: Poetry and Abu Ghraib."  PMLA.  October 2008.

"Vexing Resistance, Complicating Occupation: A Contrapuntal Reading of Sahar Khalifeh's Wild Thorns and David Grossman's The Smile of the Lamb."  College English.  Forthcoming 2009.

"Lang/scapes: Further Explorations of War Resistance Poetry."  Big Bridge.  2008.

"Poetry and the Peace Movement: Useable Pasts, Multiple Futures."  Big Bridge.  Vol. 3:4.  2007.  online.  http://www.bigbridge.org/fictpmetres.htm 

"Some Notes on Translating Arseny Tarkovsky's 'Field Hospital.'"  Mosty: A Journal of Translators.  4 (8).  2005.  23-26

"Performing ‘Righteous Certainty': The Shifting Poetic Address of June Jordan's War Resistance Poetry."  Still Seeking an Attitude: Critical Reflections on the Work of June Jordan.  Lexington Books.  2004.   

"William Stafford's Down in My Heart: The Poetics of Pacifism and the Limits of Lyric." Peace and Change. January 2004. 1-28

"Barrett Watten's Bad History: A Counter-Epic to the Gulf War." Postmodern Culture. 13:3 July 2003.

"June Jordan's War against War." Peace Review. 15:2 June 2003. 171-177

"Confusing a Naïve Robert Lowell and Lowell Naeve: 'Lost Connections' in 1940s War Resistance at West Street and Danbury Prison." Contemporary Literature. Winter 2000. 661-692.  (A selection of the essay posted on Cary Nelson's Modern American Poetry website.)

Selected Book Reviews

Review of The Butterfly's Burden by Mahmoud Darwish.  Jacket 35: March 2008.  Online.

"From Reznikoff to Public Enemy."  Poetry Foundation website.  November 2007.  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/feature.html?id=180213

"Reading levy in Cleveland."  Jacket 34: Late Fall 2007.  http://jacketmagazine.com/34/metres- levy.shtml

Review of Corpse Watching by Sarith Peou.  Behind the Lines blog.      www.behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com.  October 2007.  http://behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com/2007/10/corpse-watching-by-sarith-peou.html

Review of Language as Responsibility by Leonard Schwartz.  Behind the Lines blog.  www.behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com.  October 2007.              http://behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com/2007/10/leonard-schwartzs-language-as.html

 "The End(s) of Russian Poetry: An Interview with Dmitry Prigov." Behind the Lines blog.  July   2007.  http://behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com/2007/07/ends-of-russian-poetry-interview-with.html

"From Vietnam to September 11th: An Interview with Robert Bly."  Behind the Lines blog.  June 2007.  http://behindthelinespoetry.blogspot.com/2007/06/this-is-interview-of-robert-bly-that-i.html

Review of Nets by Jen Bervin. Jacket. 2004.

Review of Morning Constitutional by Michael Magee. Jacket. May 2003.

Review of Post Gibran: Anthology of New Arab American Writing. Indiana Review. Spring 2001.

Interested in having your new book of poems reviewed?  Send a review copy to me at Philip Metres, Department of English, John Carroll University, 20700 N. Park Blvd, University Heights, OH 44118