Michael Duncan

James Maynard

William Breazeale

Christopher Wagstaff

After meeting in San Francisco in 1950, they soon created a domestic life based on mutual intellectual and aesthetic interests. In reexamining myths through a synthesis of art and literature, their deeply interrelated works stand as crucial assemblages of the meaning of our time. An Opening of the Field presents a rich cross-section of Jess's paintings and collages and Duncan's colourful abstract drawings, as well as a gallery of works by the artists and poets who were intimates in their circle, including Helen Adam, James Broughton, Patricia Jordan, R. B. Kitaj, Michael McClure, Jack Spicer, Dean Stockwell and many others. Essays by Michael Duncan and Christopher Wagstaff examine the artists' lives and works; William Breazeale interprets the complexity of a major Jess collage; and James Maynard offers a synopsis of the poetry scene of the time. Concise biographies are included for each of the artists and poets featured in the "circle."

Jess, Robert Duncan, and Their Circle

An Opening of the Field

This study examines the theoretical underpinnings of Robert Duncan’s poetry and poetics. The author’s overriding concern is Duncan’s understanding of excess in relation to poetry and the philosophies of Alfred North Whitehead, William James, and John Dewey.

James Maynard

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