"In The Underworld Descent in Twentieth-Century Poetry, Thurston assembles a wonderfully eclectic array of poems that share the motif of the underworld journey, and provides an elegantly delineated framework for understanding their relations both to each other and to the particular historical moments out of which they emerge. At the heart of Thurston s argument is a sharply drawn distinction ... Read morebetween nekuia and katabasis, two phases of epic transactions with the underworld that he persuasively aligns with poetic tradition and political engagement. Often the mere act of identifying a poem as participating in the nekuia or katabasis traditions helps us to see a familiar text in a new light; I will never again read Adrienne Rich s "Diving into the Wreck," for example, without noticing how it restages the underworld journey. Thurston s readings are unfailingly illuminating and fresh, his juxtapositions surprising yet compelling. The result is a remarkably full representation of twentieth-century poetry in all its aesthetic and social variety." - Roger Gilbert, Cornell University Show Less