Piotr Gwiazda, “‘Beyond My Outrage or My Admiration’: Postnational Critique
in Robert Pinsky’s An Explanation of America,” College Literature, 35 (Spring
2008): 86–103.
In a counterintuitive move, uses Pinsky’s expression of commitment to the idea
of a unified American culture and nation to explain and explore postnational
critique in the late twentieth century. For advanced students, it provides a close
reading of the collection’s poems.
Edward Hirsch, “A Fresh Hell,” New Yorker, 70 (23 January 1995): 87–90.
Review of The Inferno of Dante that provides a positive assessment of the transla-
tion useful for students interested in Pinksy’s poetic abilities.
Tony Hoagland, “Three Tenors: Glück, Hass, Pinsky, and the Development of
Talent,” American Poetry Review, 32 ( July–August 2003): 37–42.
A concise discussion of Pinsky’s mediation between subject and form, focusing on
excerpts from An Explanation of America.
J. Logenbrack, “Robert Pinsky and the Language of Our Time,” Salmagundi, 103
(Summer 1994): 157–177.
Discusses Pinsky’s role within the context of contemporary American poetry,
focusing particularly on his use of language to develop a social, political, and
cultural dialogue in verse.
Marshall Toman, “Pinsky’s An Explanation of America,” Explicator, 42 (Spring
1984): 62–64.
Pinpoints quotations from and allusions to the work of other writers in Pinsky’s
long poem.
Jay Parini, “Explaining America: The Poetry of Robert Pinsky,” Chicago Review,
33, 1 (1981): 16–26.
Praises Pinsky for his unique vision and originality and highlights important
thematic concerns.
—D. Gilson and Linda Trinh Moserh
Annie Proulx, Close Range: Wyoming Stories
(New York: Scribners, 1999)Annie Proulx’s first novel, Postcards (1992), won the PEN/Faulkner Award; she
was the first woman to receive it. Her second novel, The Shipping News (1993),
received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in fiction. In 1997
she received the John Dos Passos Prize, given to an author the prize committee
deems the best underrecognized American writer in midcareer. Two stories from
Close Range: Wyoming Stories, “Brokeback Mountain” and “The Mud Below,” won
the O’Henry Award; “Brokeback Mountain” also won the National Magazine