Arcadian Rustbelt

Generalisations about the Thatcher Era This is part of an attempt to set up generalisations about the shared conditions of the Eighties – the public space surrounding poetry. The generalisations may seem crude, but the need is is for people to say yes or no, so that the generalisations can be confirmed or rejected. The idea is to get beyond individual experience – to reach something with fewer features but wider relevance. The introduction is built on these generalisations, as they stand, so if people clearly object to them the introduction will be changed. Please use the Comments feature to record disagreement or agreement. ('Eighties' runs up to 1993 or so in this case!) ** (1) The central feature of the Eighties was anxiety as the New Right put through policies which entailed immiseration and insecurity for the largest part of the population, while their lack of any restraint threatened an ever accelerating level of exploitation and exclusion. There was a specific neo-co

The Leisure Complex of Discontent: Mission statement Poets emerging 1980-94 There was no anthology of new poets on the Underground in 1992. This project is designed as what that would have been. It fills a void. This anthology is: 1, About finding a generation The poets concerned notably developed in isolation from their contemporaries, even if the presence of an older generation was a guide. This is the first generational anthology for this generation. Juxtaposition can at this stage reveal common ground so far as it is there. Is the Underground an organism or just a negative state embracing those who do not conform efficiently? 2, Opening a vista The anthology is designed as a way in to a whole era of innovation and artistic achievement. It is not a lifeboat mission to rescue shattered spars from an area of sea we quickly want to leave. 3, Exhibiting We make some of the best poems from this era available in one place and invite everybody in to see. For this duration the