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Reviews 365 “poet-at-large” appellation) and an awareness of the traditions of artists before him. Smith is most effective when he turns his attention to the writing itself, though there are a few instances when he merely summarizes a poem rather than analyzing it. He finds in the poet’s art a number of tools which surface again and again: the “open form,” in which Ferlinghetti structures his poetic lines upon his own breathing rhythms, revealing an indebtedness to William Carlos Williams; abstract-expressionism, adapted by Ferlinghetti to poetry, in which, like e.e. cummings, the poet uses his paper as a canvas on which to typographically paint his poems; writing which attempts to transmit pure thought to words, though in a somewhat directed way (Smith suggests this method most resembles Surrealism, but with a didactic twist); and “filmic scenes,” by which Ferlinghetti creates a poetry of cinematic intensity with vivid, meaning-packed images and quick, sudden movements of the poetic lens. Smith’s work is destined to be a seminal study of Ferlinghetti’s art, both for its insight into the creative processes of an important figure in American literature and as a starting point for a serious rereading of the writer who was once a pop hero. STEVE WILSON Wichita State University Southwestern American Literature: A Bibliography. Edited by John Q. Anderson, Edwin W. Gaston, Jr., and James W. Lee. (Chicago: Swallow Press, 1980. 445 pages, $30.00.) Bibliographies, no matter how exhaustive their coverage seems to be on the day compilers finish the manuscript, already demonstrate signs of arrested development on the day they are published. Researchers anticipate this obvious and unsolvable problem, even when they consult the most recent list­ ings in annual journal compilations. This bibliography was a long time in the making, losing one competent editor, Dr. John Q. Anderson, to an untimely death during that time. Five years have elapsed since its publication. Dated though this work is, however, this volume offers valuable information—for beginning researchers particularly. Acknowledging the diverse definitions imposed upon the Southwest as region, the editors confine coverage to works and authors associated with Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. Divided into three parts, the bibliography considers first “General Topics,” which includes sections on the land, the work, the art and the ethos of the Southwest. “Literature,” Part II, is organized by division into genres. Somewhat misleading, however, is the section entitled “Fiction.” Here, instead of listing novels and short stories, which appear later by individual author in Part III, editor Gaston covers criticism and literary history of fiction, ignoring that a section designated 366 Western American Literature “History and Literary Criticism” appears in this division as well. Under “Juveniles,” on the other hand, a representative but lengthy bibliography of juvenile fiction titles is compiled. Listings of the works of more than 500 individual authors in Part III offsets this inconsistency. Included in each list are identification of genres each author has produced, titles of their works in chronological order, and works about the author. Each individual author’s bibliography identifies the compiler of the list as well. Scanning this final section, one who has already made an acquaintance with authors of southwestern American literature will find some of the better writers missing. For example, Texas novelists Elmer Kelton and Elithe Hamilton Kirkland and gifted short story writer Mary Gray Hughes, all of whom had produced works of note at the time entries in this bibliography were collected, do not appear in its listings. Part III, neverthe­ less, does live up to the editors’claim that it “presents the most comprehensive listing to date” of southwestern writers and their works. Particularly helpful to all scholars of southwestern regional literature are such sections as Ernestine Sewell’s lengthy compilation of books and articles by and about the French in the Southwest and an excellent list of early-day magazines and newspapers categorized by state, including a bibliographical guide to other checklists of periodicals and newspapers in each state. If supplemented by Mabel Major’s and T. M. Pearce’s classic literary history, Southwest Heritage (1972), this volume deserves prominent shelf space in the scholar’s reference library. LOU RODENBERGER...

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