This book takes up the utopian desire for a perfect language of words that give direct expression to the real, known in Western thought as Cratylism, and its impact on the social visions and poetic projects of three of the most intellectually ambitious of American writers: Walt Whitman, Laura (Riding) Jackson, and Charles Olson.

Autorentext
CARLA BILLITTERI is Assistant Professor of English at the Univesity of Maine, USA.

Inhalt
The True Forms of Things: Cratylism and American Poetry Substantial Words: Walt Whitman and the Power of Names The Linguistic Ultimate: Laura (Riding) Jackson and the Language of Truth A State Destroys a Noun: Charles Olson and Objectism Coda: Language Poetry and Neo-Cratylism