John Ashbery bibliography

The bibliography of John Ashbery includes poetry, literary criticism, art criticism, journalism, drama, fiction, and translations of verse and prose. His most significant body of work is in poetry, having published numerous poetry collections, book-length poems, and limited edition chapbooks. In his capacity as a journalist and art critic, he contributed to magazines like New York and Newsweek. He served for a time as the editor of Art and Literature: an International Review and as executive editor of Art News. In drama and fiction, he wrote five plays and cowrote the novel A Nest of Ninnies with James Schuyler. Beyond his original works, he translated verse and prose from French. Many of his works of poetry, prose, drama, and translations have been compiled in volumes of collected writings.

John Ashbery
bibliography
A man with white hair, seen from the chest up, looks directly into the camera with a surprised or excited facial expression. He is wearing a white collared shirt with thin multi-color vertical stripes, a black jacket with a "Brooklyn" pin, and a light-yellow tie with a repeating pattern of cherries.
Ashbery in 2010
Books34
Novels1
Collections11
Plays5
Interviews2
Academic theses2
References and footnotes

Books

Verse

Ashbery published 26 books of poetry (not including his limited edition books, listed below). Most of them are poetry collections, which typically contain a mix of new and previously published poems. Flow Chart and Girls on the Run are book-length long poems.

Year Title Publisher First edition
catalog no.[note 1]
Notes
1956 Some Trees Yale University Press LCCN 56-5940 Yale Series of Younger Poets, volume 52. With a foreword by W. H. Auden.
1962 The Tennis Court Oath Wesleyan University Press LCCN 56-5940
1966 Rivers and Mountains Holt, Rinehart and Winston LCCN 65-22471
1970 The Double Dream of Spring E. P. Dutton and Company LCCN 77-87191
1972 Three Poems Viking Press ISBN 0-670-70906-9 Prose poetry.
1975 The Vermont Notebook Black Sparrow Press ISBN 0-87685-227-4 Illustrations by Joe Brainard.
1975 Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror Viking Press ISBN 0-670-63283-X
1977 Houseboat Days Viking Press ISBN 0-670-38035-0
1979 As We Know Viking Press ISBN 0-670-13780-4
1981 Shadow Train Viking Press ISBN 0-670-63786-6
1984 A Wave Viking Press ISBN 0-670-75176-6
1987 April Galleons Viking Press ISBN 0-670-81958-1
1991 Flow Chart Viking Press ISBN 0-670-81958-1 Long poem.
1992 Hotel Lautréamont Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 0-679-41512-2
1994 And the Stars Were Shining Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-10500-6
1995 Can You Hear, Bird Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-11831-0
1998 Wakefulness Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-28598-5
1999 Girls on the Run Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-16270-0 Long poem.
2000 Your Name Here Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-29598-0
2002 Chinese Whispers Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 0-374-12257-1
2005 Where Shall I Wander Ecco Press ISBN 0-06-076529-1
2007 A Worldly Country Ecco Press ISBN 0-06-117383-5
2009 Planisphere Ecco Press ISBN 978-0-06-191521-5
2012 Quick Question Ecco Press ISBN 978-0-06-222595-5
2015 Breezeway Ecco Press ISBN 978-0-06-238702-8
2016 Commotion of the Birds Ecco Press ISBN 978-0-06-256509-9

Translated verse

Year Title Original author Publisher ISBN
2008 The Landscapist: Selected Poems Pierre Martory Sheep Meadow Press – distributed by University Press of New England ISBN 978-1-931357-52-4
2011 Illuminations Arthur Rimbaud W. W. Norton & Company ISBN 978-0-393-07635-6

Limited edition

The first edition of these works were printed in a limited edition. They are often printed as chapbooks, with each copy numbered and with a set number of signed copies. Many of these books are collaborations with visual artists or other poets. The contents of these books often share significant overlap with Ashbery's poetry collections; for example, Turandot and Other Poems overlaps significantly with Some Trees.

Year Title Publisher First edition
catalog no.[note 1]
Notes
1953 Turandot and Other Poems Editions of the Tibor de Nagy Gallery LCCN 2015-657560 Includes illustrations by Jane Freilicher. Published as a chapbook. Although it was published before Some Trees, most of its poems were also collected in that book, which is regarded as the first (or first "major") volume of Ashbery's poetry.[1] Limited edition of 300 copies.[2]
1960 The Poems Tiber Press LCCN 67-1547 Includes prints by Joan Mitchell. Limited edition of 225 copies; 25 are numbered, 200 are signed.
1968 Sunrise in Suburbia Phoenix Book Shop Chapbook containing the poem of the same name. Limited edition of 126 copies.[2]
1968 Three Madrigals Poets Press Chapbook containing the poem of the same name. Published by Diane di Prima's Poets Press. The poem is reproduced as a facsimile (copy) of Ashbery's handwritten original, which includes several drawings.[3] Limited edition of 162 copies.[2]
1969 Fragment Black Sparrow Press Chapbook containing the poem of the same name. Limited edition of 1,020 copies.[2]
1970 Evening in the Country Spanish Main Press Chapbook containing the poem of the same name.[2]
1970 The New Spirit Adventures in Poetry Chapbook containing the poem of the same name. Limited edition of 65 copies.[2]
1975 The Serious Doll Kermani Press Chapbook containing the poem of the same name. Limited, numbered, and signed edition of 50 copies.[2]
1975 The Vermont Notebook Black Sparrow Press ISBN 0-87685-227-4 Two special first editions:
  • Signed and numbered edition of 250 copies
  • Signed and lettered edition of 26 copies, each with an original ink drawing by Joe Brainard
1981 Apparitions: Poems Lord John Press ISBN 0-935716-10-6 Galway Kinnell, W. S. Merwin, Liz Rosenberg, Dave Smith. Limited edition of 300 copies, signed by all five authors.
1984 Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror Arion Press Fine art edition containing the poem of the same name. Packaged in a stainless steel film canister. Contains a new foreword by Ashbery; a 12-inch vinyl record with a recording of Ashbery reading the poem; an essay by Helen Vendler; original prints by Richard Avedon, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Jim Dine, Jane Freilicher, Alex Katz, R. B. Kitaj, and Larry Rivers. Limited edition of 175 copies.[2]
1984 Spring Day Palaemon Press Chapbook containing the poem of the same name.[2]
1987 The Ice Storm Hanuman Books Chapbook containing the poem of the same name.[2]
1990 Haibun Hanuman Books Chapbook containing the six haibun poems from A Wave. Illustrations by Judith Shea.[2]
1991 The Kaiser's Children Charles Seluzicki Fine art edition containing excerpts from the poem "Dreams of Adulthood", which was originally published. Includes illustrations by Eric Stotik. Limited, numbered edition of 50 copies, signed by Ashbery and Stotik.[2]
1998 Description of a Masque Limited Editions Club Contains the poem of the same name. Includes illustrations by Jane Freilicher. Limited, numbered edition of 300 copies.[2]
1998 Novel Grenfell Press Contains the poem of the same name, written in 1954 but previously unpublished. Includes illustrations by Trevor Winkfield. Limited, numbered edition of 100 copies, plus 15 artists' proofs; all copies signed by Ashbery and Winkfield.[4]
1999 Who Knows What Constitutes a Life Z Press LCCN 2015-657570 Chapbook containing the poem of the same name. Illustrated by Elizabeth Murray. Limited edition chapbook of 200 copies, with 26 copies lettered A to Z signed by the poet and the artist with an original print by Elizabeth Murray.
2001 100 Multiple-Choice Questions Adventures in Poetry ISBN 0-9706250-0-6 Reprint of a poem first published in the January 1970 issue of the journal Adventures in Poetry.[5] Limited edition of 500 copies.
2001 As Umbrellas Follow Rain Qua Books ISBN 0-9708763-0-0 Dust jacket art by Tom Burckhard. Limited edition in two runs: 100 numbered copies signed by Ashbery and Burckhard, and 900 unnumbered unsigned copies.[6]
1999 The Recital / Le Récital Ergo Pers Artists' Books Contains the prose poem of the same name (originally published in Three Poems). Bilingual edition in English and French. Translation by Franck André Jamme. Illustrated by Hanns Schimansky. Limited edition chapbook of 40 copies.[2]

Prose

Year Title Publisher First edition
catalog no.[note 1]
Notes
1969 A Nest of Ninnies E. P. Dutton and Company LCCN 69-17307 A novel written in collaboration with James Schuyler.[7] New edition by Dalkey Archive Press in 2008 (ISBN 978-1-56478-520-6).
2000 Other Traditions Harvard University Press ISBN 0-674-00315-2 A book of literacy criticism about six writers who Ashbery turns to for inspiration: John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Raymond Roussel, John Wheelwright, Laura Riding, and David Schubert.[7]

Collected verse

Year Title Publisher First edition
catalog no.[note 1]
Notes
1967 Selected Poems Jonathan Cape LCCN 97-89583 Contains selected poems from:
  • Some Trees
  • The Tennis Court Oath
  • Rivers and Mountains
1985 Selected Poems Penguin Books ISBN 0-670-80917-9 Contains selected poems from:
  • Some Trees
  • The Tennis Court Oath
  • Rivers and Mountains
  • The Double Dream of Spring
  • Three Poems
  • Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
  • Houseboat Days
  • As We Know
  • Shadow Train
  • A Wave
1993 Three Books Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-058702-0 Collects all poems from Houseboat Days, Shadow Train, and A Wave.
1997 The Mooring of Starting Out: The First Five Books of Poetry Carcanet Press ISBN 1-85754-366-1 Contains:
  • Some Trees
  • The Tennis Court Oath
  • Rivers and Mountains
  • The Double Dream of Spring
  • Three Poems
2007 Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems Ecco Press ISBN 978-0-06-136717-5 Contains selected poems and excerpts from:
  • April Galleons
  • Flow Chart (excerpted)
  • Hotel Lautréamont
  • And the Stars Were Shining
  • Can You Hear, Bird
  • Wakefulness
  • Girls on the Run (excerpted)
  • Your Name Here
  • As Umbrellas Follow Rain
  • Chinese Whispers
  • Where Shall I Wander
2008 Collected Poems 1956–1987 Library of America ISBN 1-59853-028-3 Library of America series, volume 187. Edited by Mark Ford. Contains all poems from Some Trees, The Tennis Court Oath, Rivers and Mountains, The Double Dream of Spring, Three Poems, The Vermont Notebook, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, Houseboat Days, As We Know, Shadow Train, A Wave, and April Galleons, as well as previously uncollected poems.
2014 Collected French Translations: Poetry Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 978-0-374-25802-3 Edited by Rosanne Wasserman and Eugene Richie.
2017 Collected Poems 1991–2000 Library of America ISBN 1-59853-535-8 Library of America series, volume 301. Edited by Mark Ford; chronology by Mark Ford and David Kermani. Contains all poems from Flow Chart, Hotel Lautréamont, And the Stars Were Shining, Can You Hear, Bird, Wakefulness, Girls on the Run, and Your Name Here, as well as previously uncollected poems.
2018 They Knew What They Wanted: Poems and Collages Rizzoli Electa ISBN 978-0-8478-6056-2 Edited by Mark Polizzotti. Preface by Polizzotti, introduction and an interview with Ashbery by John Yau. Includes a selection of Ashbery's collages, several previously published poems, and a poem that had only been published once before in Karin Roffman's biography The Songs We Know Best: John Ashbery's Early Life (2017).[8] It is Ashbery's first posthumous book—though, according to Polizzotti's preface, it was "for all intents and purposes finished before his passing".[9]

Collected prose or drama

Year Title Publisher First edition
catalog no.[note 1]
Notes
1978 Three Plays Z Press ISBN 0-915990-12-1 Contains the plays The Compromise, The Heroes, and The Philosophers.
1989 Reported Sightings: Art Chronicles 1957–1987 Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 0-394-57387-0 Edited by David Bergman. Contains selected articles of art criticism and journalism.
2005 Selected Prose 1953–2003 University of Michigan Press ISBN 0-472-11439-5 Edited by Eugene Richie.
2014 Collected French Translations: Prose Farrar, Straus and Giroux ISBN 978-0-374-25803-0 Edited by Rosanne Wasserman and Eugene Richie.

Plays

Year Work Notes
1950 The Heroes Included in Three Plays. Written in 1950; first staged by the Living Theatre in 1952.[7]
1955 The Compromise Included in Three Plays. Written in 1955; first staged by the Poets Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1956.[7] The text of the play includes Ashbery's poem "America". The Compromise was published in the one-shot review The Hasty Papers (1960), edited by Alfred Leslie.[10]
1956 The Milky Coconut Four scenes from the play were published in two issues of Semi-Colon; otherwise unpublished.[11]
1959 The Philosopher Included in Three Plays.[7]
1960 To the Mill A short verse play. First published in Alfred Leslie's one-shot review The Hasty Papers (1960).[12]

Journalism

Asbery wrote numerous journalistic articles—mostly art criticism—in the International Herald Tribune, New York magazine, Newsweek, and other periodicals. Ashbery also edited the periodicals Art and Literature: An International Review and Art News.[7]

Interviews

Ashbery has been the interviewee in numerous published interviews. There has been one book-length interview published to date: John Ashbery in Conversation with Mark Ford. Only interviews published in books are listed here, not interviews published in periodicals or websites.

Year Title Interviewer Publisher ISBN Notes
2003 John Ashbery in Conversation with Mark Ford Mark Ford Between the Lines (UK); Dufour Editions (US) ISBN 1-903291-12-7 Book-length interview.
2013 Our Deep Gossip: Conversations with Gay Writers on Poetry and Desire Christopher Hennessy University of Wisconsin Press ISBN 9780299295646 Interview with Ashbery at pp. 53–78.

Academic theses

Year Title Notes
1949 The Poetic Medium of W. H. Auden For his B.A. at Harvard University. About the English-American poet W. H. Auden.[11]
1951 Three Novels of Henry Green For his M.A. at Columbia University. About the English author Henry Green's novels Living (1929), Party Going (1939), and Concluding (1948).[11]

Further reading

In 1976, Ashbery's partner David Kermani published a comprehensive 244-page bibliography compiling the author's then-published works.

The Ashbery Resource Center maintains a searchable online bibliography. Beyond Ashbery's works, the site also catalogs numerous other works not included here, such as publications of his works in translation and works about Ashbery to which he did not contribute. Like the 1976 bibliography, this online bibliography is overseen by Kermani.

  • Kermani, David; Morrissette, Micaela; Rudegeair, Anni; Hendrix, Jenny; Briscese, Rosangela (2004). "Annotated Catalogue of the ARC Archive". Ashbery Resource Center – a project of The Flow Chart Foundation. Retrieved July 12, 2019.

Notes

  1. The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) system was not formally introduced until 1970 and, consequently, first editions of Ashbery's pre-1970 books did not have an ISBN. Instead, the Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN) is used. Later editions of these early works typically have an ISBN. Even after 1970, several of the limited-edition books do not have ISBNs, in which case the LCCN is used.

Citations

Sources

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