Dynamics of Politicization in the Twentieth-Century U.S. Poetry Field.

Abstract

How can dissenting intellectuals acquire social, political, and cultural influence beyond their immediate circles? This dissertation examines the case of twentieth-century U.S. poets using comparative and historical methods to answer this question. Based on archival and biographical evidence that covers the period from 1910 to 1975, it shows, first, that the autonomy of cultural production is a significant factor, provided that autonomy is understood as an open process to be negotiated and not as a status to be maximized or minimized. Second, it introduces the consideration of political conjuncture to the sociology of intellectuals by showing that Vietnam-era U.S. poets were effective in the public sphere to the extent that they had action repertoires that were flexible enough to adjust to electoral outcomes. Third, it underscores the importance of social capital by showing that Vietnam-era U.S. poets were able to convert contested cultural resources to political ones to the extent that their networks reached where the legitimate owners of these resources did not. Based on these findings, this dissertation advances the notion of "pragmatic intellectual" against four figures that have dominated the literature: Gramsci’s organic intellectual, Sartre’s “total intellectual,” Bourdieu's "collective intellectual," and Foucault's "specific intellectual." It makes three theoretical contributions. First, it shows that the Bourdieusian field approach and the study of U.S. intellectuals are mutually beneficial. Second, it develops an objectivist approach to the dramaturgical tradition. Third, it proposes to conceptualize dissenting intellectuals as a social movement that has to face the exact same constraints as other, better known and better understood movements.