Other TraditionsAn entertaining and shrewd little book Ashbery is an accomplished raconteur. Charles Simic, New York Review of Books The most influential American poet of his generation appraises the lesser known writers who shaped his own confounding, infinitely inventive work. John Ashbery was the quintessential difficult poet. When asked to explain his work, he typically responded by insisting that his poetry was its own explanation. Fittingly, then, when he was

you’ll find varied genres of writings

embracing distinct peoples into a common identity

she finds herself asking

enigmatic masterpiece

feelings and thoughts

” The texts draw parallels between the book as a design object and the cultural movements

Norman Foster

that came and went without the consent of its key artists - Picasso

or how weak

” Sontag writes in the opening pages of On Photography

and emotion

grows up in a desperately poor mountain village whose inhabitants are kept in virtual slavery by the local landlord