Author Description
Frank O'Hara's New York School & Mid-Century Mannerism offers a ground-breaking account of the poet Frank O'Hara and the extraordinary cultural blossoming O'Hara catalysed, namely the mid-century experimental and multi-disciplinary arts scene, the New York School. Fresh accounts of canonical figures (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, George Balanchine, Fred Astaire) and original work on those too little discussed (Edwin Denby, Elaine de Kooning) resound with analysis of queer iconology from Michelangelo's David to James Dean. Sam Ladkin argues that O'Hara and the New York School revive Mannerism. Turning away from interpretations of O'Hara's Transcendentalism, Romanticism, or pastoralism, 'mid-century Mannerism' helps explain O'Hara's self-conscious style, its play with sweet and grand grace, contortion of conventional measure, risks with affectation, conceits, nonchalance, and scrambling of high/low culture. Mannerism clarifies the sociability implicit in the formal innovations of the New York School. The work also studies the kinship between art mediums by retooling rhetoric and recovering a perennial manneristic tendency beyond period style. Genealogies of grace, the figura serpentinata, sprezzatura, ornatus, and the marvellous exemplify qualities exhibited by O'Hara's New York School. Ladkin relates the essential role of dance in the New York School. O'Hara's reception has been tied to painting, predominantly Abstract Expressionism. He was also, however, a balletomane, a fan, for whom ballet was 'made up exclusively of qualities which other arts only aspire to in order to be truly modern.' Relaying ballet's Mannerist origins and aesthetics, and demonstrating its influence alongside Broadway and Hollywood musical-dance on art and poetry, completes the portrait of mid-century modernity.
Menrva's Summary
THE THESIS
This work investigates how the poetry of Frank O'Hara and the broader New York School movement can be understood through the lens of a revived mid-century Mannerism. Sam Ladkin, a scholar of modern literature, challenges traditional readings of O'Hara that emphasize Transcendentalism or Romanticism. Instead, he proposes a framework of 'mid-century Mannerism' to explain the poet's self-conscious style, his engagement with high and low culture, and his complex relationship with affectation and grace.
THE SCOPE MAP
What You Will Find
- Analysis of the New York School arts scene including figures like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Edwin Denby.
- A rhetorical framework connecting O'Hara's work to historical Mannerist concepts such as sprezzatura, ornatus, and the figura serpentinata.
- Examination of the influence of dance, ballet, and Hollywood musicals on the formal innovations of mid-century poetry.
Scope Limits
- The study does not provide a comprehensive biography of Frank O'Hara.
- It does not focus on the political or economic history of mid-century New York beyond its influence on artistic production.
THE AUTHORITY PERSPECTIVE
Scholars and critics recognize this text as a significant intervention in the study of the New York School, particularly for its interdisciplinary approach to poetry and dance. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which requires a familiarity with both art history and literary theory to fully appreciate the author's arguments.
Page Count:
352
Publication Date:
2024-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192866729
ISBN-13:
9780192866721
American
Mid-Century Modernism
Literary Criticism
Poetry Studies
Art History
Criticism & Theory
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