"Poetic Epistemologies explores the political and epistemological implications of women's language-oriented writing in the United States, arguing that, in its investigation of knowledge, language, and gender, this writing (re)unites art with philosophy, and both with social critique.

Featuring eight contemporary and four earlier-twentieth-century poets - including Lyn Hejinian, Susan Howe, Leslie Scalapino, Mina Loy, and Gertrude Stein - Simpson emphasizes each writer's unique contribution to the emerging tradition of feminist epistemological poetry. Drawing upon original interviews, as well as poststructuralist and feminist theory, Poetic Epistemologies offers an informed account of one of the most vital recent developments in contemporary American poetry."--BOOK JACKET.