Narrative and Representation in the Poetry of Wallace Stevens: 'A Tune Beyond Us, Yet Ourselves'

In this important study, the distinguished critic Daniel R. Schwarz argues that the narrative and representational aspects of Stevens's poetry have been neglected in favour of readings that stress Stevens's wordplay and rhetoricity. Stressing Stevens's familiarity with modern painting, Schwarz shows how Stevens's concept of representation is deeply influenced by such figures as Picasso and Duchamp. Schwarz shows that Stevens's poetry needs to be understood in terms of a number of major contexts: the American tradition of Emerson and Whitman, the Romantic movement and, most importantly, the modernist tradition.
Through careful analyses of selected poems from every stage of Stevens's career, Schwarz shows how Stevens's aesthetics and themes evolve. He sees 'The Man with the Blue Guitar' and 'Notes towards a Supreme Fiction' as central poems in the Stevens canon.