Bob Perelman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bob Perelman
Perelman in 2008.
Born	(1947-12-02) December 2, 1947 (age 77) Youngstown, Ohio
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Michigan, Iowa Writers' Workshop. University of California at Berkeley
Occupation	Poet literary critic professor

Bob Perelman (born December 2, 1947) is an American poet, critic, editor, and teacher. He was an early member of the Language poets. This was a new and experimental writing movement that started in the 1970s. People say he helped create a "bold and politically clear way of writing poetry" in the United States. Perelman is now a professor of English emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. This means he is a retired professor who keeps his title.

About Bob Perelman

Robert Lawrence Perelman was born in 1947. His father, Mark, was a businessman in Youngstown, Ohio. His mother, Evelyn, worked as a social worker. Bob has one older sister named Nancy.

He went to the Putney School in Vermont from 1959 to 1964. After that, he attended the University of Rochester. He first wanted to be a concert pianist. However, he decided music was not his future. He then changed his focus to classical literature.

In 1966, he moved to the University of Michigan. In 1969, he went to Iowa City, Iowa. There, he studied poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree. He also earned a Master of Arts in Greek and Latin from Michigan. Later, he received a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

In 1975, Perelman married Francie Shaw, an artist. They lived in several cities, including Cambridge, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. They eventually returned to Berkeley, California. They have two sons, born in 1979 and 1983. Francie Shaw's artwork is often seen in his books. He has dedicated all his works to her.

His Work

Perelman started teaching in 1975. He taught at places like Hobart College and Northeastern University. In 1990, he began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania. He also taught at the University of Iowa and King's College, London. By 2014, he was a professor in the English Department at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught many subjects, including poetry and literature.

The Language Writing Movement

Around 1970, Perelman was part of a poetry group in San Francisco. This group was called "Language writing" or "Language poetry." It was not a formal organization. Their poems were different from typical "expressive" poetry.

These poets, like Gertrude Stein, tried new ways of writing. They published their own works. Perelman said they were "against the usual ways of American Poetry." This group was known for being serious and productive. Perelman and other poets in this group wrote that they were "challenging" the idea of the "self" as the main focus of writing.

One of Perelman's poems, "China," caused a lot of discussion. It was seen as a good example of Language poetry. Critics used it to talk about the style of these poets.

In 1985, Perelman edited a book called Writing/Talks. It contained talks by poets from this movement. The book included works by Alan Davies, Carla Harryman, and Lyn Hejinian. They discussed topics like writing, politics, and language.

His Poetry

By 2014, Perelman had published more than 15 books of poetry. His work has been reviewed by magazines like Jacket.

Steve Evans wrote that Perelman played a big part in creating "bold and politically clear" poetry in the United States. He used many different forms in his writing. Evans felt that Perelman's poetry looked for the "deep structure of social experience."

Other writers also discussed Perelman's work. Lyn Hejinian said that Perelman's writing does not try to explain everything. Instead, he looks closely at how people use power. This includes power through language, laws, and technology. Andrew Klobucar said Perelman's poetry uses "dream-like" elements. These elements help connect ideas and knowledge.

Joshua Schuster divided Perelman's poetry into two groups. One group came from his time in San Francisco. These poems talked about how capitalism spread. They also discussed how it became harder to make social changes. The other group of poems came from his time teaching at the university. These works explored how older forms of poetry could be reinvented.

Here is a part from his poem The Marginalization of Poetry. It shows how he combines history and literary ideas with humor:

it's hard to think of any
poem where the word "marginalization" occurs.

It is being used here, but
this may or may not be

a poem: the couplets of six
word lines don't establish an audible

rhythm; perhaps they haven't, to use
the Calvinist mercantile metaphor, "earned" their

right to exist in their present
form—is this a line break

or am I simply chopping up
ineradicable prose? But to defend this

(poem) from its own attack, I'll
say that both the flush left

and irregular right margins constantly loom
as significant events, often interrupting what

I thought I was about to
write and making me write something

else entirely. Even though I'm going
back and rewriting, the problem still

reappears every six words. So this,
and every poem, is a marginal

work in a quite literal sense.

Literary Criticism

Perelman wrote two books of literary criticism. These books analyze and discuss literature. They are called The Trouble with Genius and The Marginalization of Poetry. The Trouble with Genius looks at the writers who came before the Language writing movement. The Marginalization of Poetry talks about the history of that movement in a poetic style.

The Trouble with Genius

Perelman's 1994 book, The Trouble with Genius, looks at earlier modernist writers. These include Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Al Filreis suggests the book is about making complex works understandable. Perelman shows how literary criticism can be like a game. He brings new ideas to understanding modern writing.

The Marginalization of Poetry

Perelman explained his 1996 book, The Marginalization of Poetry. He said he wanted to write criticism that was also poetry. He also wanted poetry that was criticism. Ron Silliman wrote that the book uses Language writing techniques to explain the movement itself.

Peter Middleton noted that the book was published by a major academic publisher. This helped Perelman get a permanent teaching position. Perelman worried that academic criticism sometimes makes poetry seem less important. He wrote about his passion for poetry. He also discussed how teaching and sharing ideas are important for writers.

Selected Publications

Non-fiction

• (contributor) The Grand Piano: An Experiment in Collective Autobiography. (Detroit, MI: Mode A/This Press, 2006 — ongoing). ISBN: 978-0-9790198-0-7

Other Works

• Play: The Alps (produced in San Francisco, 1980), published in Hills (Berkeley, CA), 1980.
• Poetry magazine: Hills, nos. 1–9, edited by Perelman (1973–1980).

See also

In Spanish: Bob Perelman para niños