Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN num: 9780140249354
ISBN number: 0140249354
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 96
Printing Date: June 01, 1995
Publishing house: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Sale Popularity Level: 1034597
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Elizabeth Willis, The Human Abstract (Penguin, 1995)
Elizabeth Willis is a fantastic poet, one of those holding the banner of the avant-garde in America who actually deserves to be holding it. Perhaps there is no better indicator of this than that Willis' The Human Abstract is one of those rare beasts, an American book of poetry printed after World War II released by the mighty keeper of all that is literary, Penguin. Established fans will already know (and may already own) some of the things in this collection, many of which were published previously as chapbooks or broadsides; don't let that stop you from shelling out for this bad boy. All the rest of what's in here is just as good as what you have. And if you've never entered the wild, wonderful, often frightening world of Liz Willis, you're in for quite a ride.
The very first thing to note about Willis' writing is that, like all great poets, she is at least as concerned (if not more so, at times) with how it sounds than whether it makes sense. Let me rush to add, since it's a different way of thinking for most people, that that is a good thing (often, about the best poems, it is the best thing; read Simic, Stroffolino, Hamburger's translations of Tzara, early Eshleman, etc. for numerous examples). The thing that very first strikes you about the poems in here is how good they sound. Well, that and the way they lay on the page (which, at least in comparison to the original chapbook of "A/O," is even toned down a bit here), which is sure to draw the eye. Read the stuff here through, first, just for the magic of sound, the pleasure of the differing flow of breath on some passages. Then delve into the meaning. And you'll probably have to delve; it's obvious from the material here that Willis is savagely intelligent, and one of those people who is driven to write by the things she's uncovered with that intelligence; you won't be sitting with a concordance, as you would with Pound's Cantos, but you might want to keep a search engine handy. All of which is quite worth it, as Willis is truly one of the guiding lights in American poetry today. **** ½
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