Reverdy and Cubism: The Intellectual Background and the Poetic Implications

FAIN: FR-10226-78

Everett F. Jacobus, Jr
Davidson College (Davidson, NC 28036-9405)

To explore the following questions: (l) How does Reverdy's definition of the poetic image, which is at once directly inspired by his involvement with Cubism and which in turn directly inspires Andre Breton in his own surrealist definition, fit into the intellectual ( and not merely literary) climate of the period? (2) How does Reverdy’s consideration of the ontological and epistemological status of the poem, again directly inspired by his involvement with Cubism, fit into the broad intellectual climate of this period?(3) What happens to the practical application of this image in his poetry in the later years of the 1940s and 1950s? Publishable work should result from this study.