Bruce Andrews: The L=a=N=G=U=a=G=E Book [1984]

This selection of essays and poetry from the first three volumes of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine dis cusses a "spectrum of writing that places its attention primarily on language and ways of making meaning, that takes for granted neither vocabulary, grammar, process, shape, syntax, program, nor sub ject matter." (Bernstein and Andrews) The various writers shun labels, slogans, or catch-phrases; their exploration of the ways that meanings and values are re vealed through the written word is in tended to open the field of poetic activity, not close it.

The common thread of these essays is the multitude and scope of words' refer ential powers denotative, connotative, and associational; and studying these powers is ultimately a social and political activity as well as an aesthetic one.