Download or read book Modern Poetry and the Idea of Language written by Gerald L. Bruns and published by Dalkey Archive Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: -- Gerald Bruns's ground-breaking analysis compares two contrasting functions of language: the hermetic, where language is self-contained and self-referencing, and the Orphic, which originates from a belief in the mythical unity of word and being. Bruns lucidly depicts the distinctions and convergences between these two lines of thought by examining the works of Mallarme, Flaubert, Joyce, Beckett, and others.