To Go Into the Words

Series

• Poets on Poetry

To Go Into the Words is the latest book of critical prose from renowned poet and scholar of Jewish literature Norman Finkelstein. Through a rigorous examination of poets such as William Bronk, Helen Adam, and Nathaniel Mackey, the book engages the contemporary poetic fascination with transcendence through the radical delight with language. By opening up a given poem, Finkelstein seeks the “gnosis” or insight of what it contains so that other readers can understand and appreciate the works even more.

Pulling from Finkelstein’s experience of writing thirteen books of poetry and six books of literary criticism, To Go Into the Words consistently rewards the reader with insights as transformative as they are well-considered and deftly mapped out.  This volume opens the world of poetry to poets, scholars, and readers by showcasing “the gnosis that is to be found in modern poetry.”

Norman Finkelstein is Professor Emeritus of English at Xavier University, where he taught courses in poetry, contemporary American literature, modern Jewish literature, and Freud. He is the author of thirteen books of poetry and six books of literary criticism and has written extensively about modern poetry and Jewish literature. Select titles include Like a Dark Rabbi: Modern Poetry & the Jewish Literary Imagination (Hebrew Union College Press, 2019), On Mt. Vision: Forms of the Sacred in Contemporary American Poetry (University of Iowa Press, 2010), and Not One of Them In Place: Modern Poetry and Jewish American Identity (SUNY Press, 2001).