Tyrone Williams on Close Listening

Listen to the full show here (44:38): MP3

Tyrone Williams talks to me about growing up working-class in Detroit; bookishness and the role of education and his early teachers; assimilation versus resistance and formal innovation in American poetry in relation to his dissertation on “Open and Closed Forms In 20th Century American Poetics”; his practice of “eshuneutics” (after Yoruba spirit Eshu); the use of appropriation in his poetry and the necessity of research and reading beyond one’s immediate knowledge context; and the politics and history of English for African-Americans.

Tyrone Williams. Williams was born in Detroit. He is the author of c.c., On Spec, The Hero Project, Adventures of Pi, and Howell. He has been teaching at Xavier University in Cincinnati since 1983. You can hear many readings by Williams at his PennSound page, including a video of the February 17, 2017, reading Williams gave at the Kelly Writers House just after we recorded the Close Listening show. 

Close Listening is produced for Clocktower Radio. A full set of the shows is also available on PennSound. 

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