Crisis and the US Avant-Garde

Crisis and the US Avant-Garde, Volume 1, is a scholarly work of literary criticism that examines the intersection of vanguard politics and experimental poetics. Ben Hickman analyzes how American poetry functions during periods of cultural upheaval, treating poems as active interventions during critical turning points. This study explores the relationship between poetic language and systemic crises, including imperialism, war, capitalism, and class conflict.

The text provides detailed readings of influential figures within American poetry and semiotics and theory, such as Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, and Louis Zukofsky. By connecting movements like Language Poetry to specific historical moments of decision, the book reassesses the role of the US avant-garde in political struggle. This volume serves as a key reference for those studying the evolution of experimental cultural politics and the social context of avant-garde art.