Literary history is now again, after a long hegemony of fheory-cum-philosophy-inflected methods, a thriving part of the study of literature. The rise of media studies, the lasting impact of the archival turn as well as the perhaps-surprising return of book history (very cool today!)—all exciting side effects of the digital revolution in art and society—are key factors in this success. Literary history is all the more exciting since its contemporary forms do not abandon or censor the great debates of the 1970s and 1980s, when French theory hit the world. Abigail Lang’s meticulous study of what she calls the “transatlantic conversation” between French and U.S. poets, and poetry texts and practices, since 1968 is a marvelous example of what literary history is not only representing but also doing today: It is an inspiring mix of textual and archival close reading, also containing a broad analysis of the thriving forces behind...

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