The Semantics of Silence in the Poetry of Wallace Stevens 

PhD Dissertation

His thinking was systematic and powerful, and his reading skills as a poetry critic superb.   I have never seen any one so clear and right about my arguments. . .It was a great pleasure to me to become aware of Maller’s work.  He has a distinguished career ahead of him.

Referee for proposed publication: Wallace Stevens and the Phenomenology of Silence:

I think you are right to develop your work into a book. . . If you are asked for who might support the book you can give my name but I cannot do anything more, except cheer you on.

Charles Altieri, Stageberg Professor of English, Berkeley University

The analysis of the kinds of silence investigated in the course of the thesis is really fruitful. It provides a very useful addition to Stevens’ scholarship and, as is acknowledged at the end of the thesis, it is possible to extrapolate this approach to discuss the silences of other poets. The thesis deals not just with the explicit language of silence – although the method adopted deals with this in ways that other approaches just cannot touch – but also about implicit kinds of silence – the semantics of silence of the title. Metaphysical and ethical or aesthetic kinds of silence, of different kinds and degrees at different points of Stevens’ career, are treated comprehensively here. It has been a privilege to read such an exciting and thorough piece of work.

Dr Carolyn Masel, ACU Melbourne

Dr Stuart Glover Senior Lecturer EMSAH UQ
Professor Peter Holbrook ARC Centre for the History of Emotions UQ
Dr Bronwyn Lea Senior Lecturer EMSAH UQ