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(More customer reviews)It seems that Dana Gioia can't do much of anything without turning the poetry world upsided down. More controversy, and all collected in this slim volume for us to take in. It starts with Gioia's essay "Fallen Western Star" which chronicles San Francisco's fall from it's height as the second largest literary center in the US. Like most of Gioia's essays, it is well-written, well-though out, and pertinant. It applies to more than just San Francisco, but discusses the danger we are in of losing all regional literature. And from there it was a hornet's nest had been poked. There are some well written discussions from Jack Foley (who edited the collection) and Richard Silberg (who opposes Gioia). Silberg makes a good case and writes almost as eloquently as Gioia does. I leave it up to the reader to decide which side is right. There are also well written responses from Dave Mason, Jonah Raskin, Micheal Lind, and Scott Timberg. There is also a letter from Howard Junker, which really doesn't belong here because it is a rant against Gioia, which is not thought out at all and clumsily written. The book is one that is essential to understanding the state of American literature. As usual, Gioia is in the center of some flurry of anger or controversy, but as usual Gioia makes a point that all of us need to understand to help save the state of American Letters.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Fallen Western Star Wars: A Debate About Literary California
Cultural Writing. Literary Criticism. In THE "FALLEN WESTEN STAR" WARS, Jack Foley documents the heated debate that surrounds literary California. "When Dana Gioia, the author of "Can Poetry Matter?," published his provocative essay, "Fallen Western Star: The Decline of San Francisco as a Literary Region," he knew that certain quarters would be up in arms. Prominent California literati were quick to defend the San Francisco Scene and wrote articles attacking Gioia. Others attacked the attackers. The entire exhilarating, sometimes hilarious exchange appears in this book." "Jack Foley is doing great things in articulating the poetic consciousness of San Francisco"-Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
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