Career Windows

Jesse Zuba’s The First Book: Twentieth-Century Poetic Careers in America argues that first books of poetry written since World War II register the homogenization of poetic career paths brought about by the institutionalization of creative writing training in American colleges and universities. Increasingly anchored in a logic of professional development common to other professions in the commercial marketplace, said training becomes a source of anxiety for authors from across the poetic spectrum, linking the poetic avant-garde to “official verse culture” in unexpected ways. However provocative and supported with nuanced close readings, The First Book is nevertheless predicated on a narrow segment of “ literary” American poetry and ignores the diverse career paths that other poets found in the larger culture.