This dissertation examines the vital experimental French poetry of the 1980s to the present. Whereas earlier twentieth century poets often shunned common speech, poets today seek instead to appropriate, adapt, and reorganize a wide variety of contemporary discourses. Narrative also reemerges both in hybridized writing fusing prose and verse and in sequences of digressions and anecdotes. Poetic form becomes specific to a given text as poets adapt techniques from other fields, such as the visual arts, and integrate a wide array of media into literary works. In recent pieces, poets such as Emmanuel Hocquard and Olivier Cadiot incorporate new media into works that move literature from the book to video and performance spaces. I argue that these new poetic activities challenge traditional definitions of poetry as lyrical expression through formal innovation and alternative concepts of identity and affect.
","abstract_html":"<p>This dissertation examines the vital experimental French poetry of the 1980s to the present. Whereas earlier twentieth century poets often shunned common speech, poets today seek instead to appropriate, adapt, and reorganize a wide variety of contemporary discourses. Narrative also reemerges both in hybridized writing fusing prose and verse and in sequences of digressions and anecdotes. Poetic form becomes specific to a given text as poets adapt techniques from other fields, such as the visual arts, and integrate a wide array of media into literary works. In recent pieces, poets such as Emmanuel Hocquard and Olivier Cadiot incorporate new media into works that move literature from the book to video and performance spaces. I argue that these new poetic activities challenge traditional definitions of poetry as lyrical expression through formal innovation and alternative concepts of identity and affect.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Lynch, Eric"],"institution":"The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"Doctoral","degree_discipline":"French","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Mary Ann Caws","Peter Consenstein"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Peter Consenstein","Evelyne Ender"],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-02-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-02-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:57Z","subjects":["French and Francophone Literature","French","Poetry","Literature and Visual Arts","Text and Image","Contemporary"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/764","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Mary Ann Caws","Peter Consenstein"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Peter Consenstein","Evelyne Ender"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Lynch, Eric"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-07-25T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["French"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["French and Francophone Literature","French","Poetry","Literature and Visual Arts","Text and Image","Contemporary"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/764"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation examines the vital experimental French poetry of the 1980s to the present. Whereas earlier twentieth century poets often shunned common speech, poets today seek instead to appropriate, adapt, and reorganize a wide variety of contemporary discourses. Narrative also reemerges both in hybridized writing fusing prose and verse and in sequences of digressions and anecdotes. Poetic form becomes specific to a given text as poets adapt techniques from other fields, such as the visual arts, and integrate a wide array of media into literary works. In recent pieces, poets such as Emmanuel Hocquard and Olivier Cadiot incorporate new media into works that move literature from the book to video and performance spaces. I argue that these new poetic activities challenge traditional definitions of poetry as lyrical expression through formal innovation and alternative concepts of identity and affect.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Unidentified Verbal Objects: Contemporary French Poetry, Intermedia, and Narrative"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Mary Ann Caws","Peter Consenstein"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Peter Consenstein","Evelyne Ender"],"dc:creator":["Lynch, Eric"],"dc:date.available":["2016-07-25T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation examines the vital experimental French poetry of the 1980s to the present. Whereas earlier twentieth century poets often shunned common speech, poets today seek instead to appropriate, adapt, and reorganize a wide variety of contemporary discourses. Narrative also reemerges both in hybridized writing fusing prose and verse and in sequences of digressions and anecdotes. Poetic form becomes specific to a given text as poets adapt techniques from other fields, such as the visual arts, and integrate a wide array of media into literary works. In recent pieces, poets such as Emmanuel Hocquard and Olivier Cadiot incorporate new media into works that move literature from the book to video and performance spaces. I argue that these new poetic activities challenge traditional definitions of poetry as lyrical expression through formal innovation and alternative concepts of identity and affect.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/764"],"dc:subject":["French and Francophone Literature","French","Poetry","Literature and Visual Arts","Text and Image","Contemporary"],"dc:title":["Unidentified Verbal Objects: Contemporary French Poetry, Intermedia, and Narrative"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["French"],"thesis:degree_level":["Doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:58:57Z"}