One beneficial result of the NBCC’s Critical Library series has been the rediscovery of hitherto-forgotten classics of criticism. Nothing surprised former NBCC board president John Freeman more than the frequency with which Randall Jarrell’s Poetry and the Age appeared as a must-have volume. From incisive readings of Robert Frost to the quandary of the insuperability of poetry and the general reading public, Jarrell’s work continues to excite a certain nerve in contemporary critics. In the new April/May issue of Bookforum, Freeman revisits this dark horse of the Critical Library picks.
Critical Mass
March 22, 2008
THE DARK HORSE
By NBCC