|
|
Ashbery, John ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
|
|
|
1 |
Ashbery, John Chinese Whispers: Poems
Farrar Straus Giroux 2003 0374528802 / 9780374528805 Paperback Near fine n/a Paperback
New. Near fine in publisher's slightly rubbed decorated wrappers. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.Ashbery's most recent style equal parts cracked drawing room dialogue, 4-H Americana, withering sarcasm and sleeve-worn pathos has been perfected over five or so books and adapted by generationally diverse poets from James Tate to Max Winter. The late Kenneth Koch's description of Ashbery as "lazy and quick" remains thoroughly apropos; these 61 page-or-two poems can seem brilliantly tossed off, much like those in his 2000 collection, Your Name Here. The title is appropriate too: Chinese Whispers is the British name for the game of Telephone, where children (or adults) gather in a circle and whisper a "secret" word or phrase into the ear next to them. The last person says it out loud; the results are often "off" in funny, surprising and telling ways. The surprise, in poem after poem, is that high and low comedy and offhanded delivery can read like simultaneous expressions of pain and regeneration and that they do not dull after multiple permutations are spun out: "The beginning of the middle is like that./ Looking back it was all valleys, shrines floating on the powdered hill,// ambivalence that came in a flood sometimes, though warm, always, for the next tenant/ to abide there." As with all Ashbery's work, these poems leave plenty of room for readers to abide. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. ... Since winning the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1975 for Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, Ashbery has been regarded as one of our major poets. This thoughtful new collection may not be any great advance-with Ashbery's elliptical style, how far can one go?-but it does maintain his momentum. The eye is immediately caught by some lines in an early poem-"Our lives ebbing always toward the center,/ the unframed portrait"-which feel like a key to Ashbery's aesthetic; he doesn't want us to look only at the center, at the shapes that predominate, but at the details along the edge. Thus, at first reading, his poems can seem like a string of out-of-sequence images, but they do bleed a definite atmosphere. Often, that atmosphere is disquieting or at least restless, but in these autumnal pieces a sense of calm predominates. True, the tale "jerks/ back and forth like the tail of a kite," and frogs and envelopes mutter, "That was some joust!" But the energy crackles only momentarily; here, things repeatedly fall, ebb, dissipate, or descend. Not that these are dreary pieces; there is a light touch and consistent pacing throughout, making this a satisfying read. Given Ashbery's stature, this is recommended for all contemporary poetry collections. Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal" Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Price:
3.15 GBP
|
|
Add to Shopping Cart |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ashbery, John on Alongthewaybooks.com
Ashbery, John on Astleybookfarm.com
Ashbery, John on Avenuebookandco.com
Ashbery, John on Avonhillbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Bbsmith.com
Ashbery, John on Bdbooksandart.com
Ashbery, John on Bestmediadeal.com
Ashbery, John on Booksontheblvd.com
Ashbery, John on Bratsbargainbookstore.com
Ashbery, John on Brimstonesbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Central-bookexchange.com
Ashbery, John on Cinemagebooks.com
Ashbery, John on Coasbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Coloradosusedbookstore.com
Ashbery, John on Dbworldwidebooks.com
Ashbery, John on Drbookman.net
| Ashbery, John on Dunawaybooks.com
Ashbery, John on Dustjacket.ca
Ashbery, John on Edconroybooks.com
Ashbery, John on Elliotsbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Goddingsltd.co.uk
Ashbery, John on Hardingsbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Havercroftbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Kathmandubooks.com
Ashbery, John on Literaturopolis.net
Ashbery, John on Manorfarmbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Marebooksellers.com
Ashbery, John on Massbaymedia.com
Ashbery, John on Moodybooks.net
Ashbery, John on Mysteryandimagination.com
Ashbery, John on Nomadestore.com
Ashbery, John on Odonoghuebooks.com
| Ashbery, John on Pribooks.com
Ashbery, John on Rarebookcellar.com
Ashbery, John on Robinsrarebooks.com
Ashbery, John on Rodneysbookstore.com
Ashbery, John on Sales.acornbookshop.com
Ashbery, John on Shelleyandsonbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Springstreetbooksri.com
Ashbery, John on Sweetbeagle.com
Ashbery, John on Used.orcabooks.com
Ashbery, John on Vagabondbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Waverlybooks.com
Ashbery, John on Wisestreetbooks.com
Ashbery, John on Youronlinebookstore.com
|
|
|
