Cross-Genre Reflections in Paul Muldoon’s ‘Le Flanneur’
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: I read Paul Muldoon's dense, complex, shifting sonnet, ‘Le Flanneur’ (2011), to explore Muldoon’s reflections on and affinities with Brian O'Nolan. 'Le Flanneur' delicately considers O'Nolan's life, creations, and reception, in playful and slightly unsettling tones; it creates a mesh of impressions rather than a verdict. I suggest that both O’Nolan and Muldoon are drawn to reused and otherwise less-than-pristine language, like cliches and terrible puns; both are not only almost inevitably funny, but profoundly tricky and elusive-- while also inevitably readable. After discussing ‘Le Flanneur,’ I end by briefly suggesting grounds for a broader consideration of O’Nolan and recent English-language poetry.
DOI: 10.16995/pr.23748
Author: Calista McRae
Institution: New Jersey Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7083285847
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: