The Postmodern Turn as a Linguistic Turn in Women´s Experimental Writing

Kornelia Freitag's contribution to the study of women's experimental writing investiga- tes how contemporary American women poets have developed a critique of culture and representation that is strictly related to postmodern theory. After sketching a general overview of the development and reception of women's experimental poetry from the '60s to the present, Freitag concentrates on the poetry of Rosemary Waldrop, Lyn Heji- nian and Susan Howe. The three poets, whose work is analysed through accurate close- readings, are presented in the light of their interventions in the deconstruction of three normative discourses: philosophy, genre theory and history.