Glass, Irony and God

by Anne Carson

Overview

Anne Carson's poetry—characterized by various reviewers as "short talks," "essays," or "verse narratives"—combines the confessional and the critical in a voice all her own.

Known as a remarkable classicist, Anne Carson weaves contemporary and ancient poetic strands with stunning style in Glass, Irony and God. This collection includes: "The Glass Essay," a powerful poem about the end of a love affair, told in the context of Carson's reading of the Brontë sisters; "Book of Isaiah," a poem evoking the deeply primitive feel of ancient Judaism; and "The Fall of Rome," about her trip to "find" Rome and her struggle to overcome feelings of a terrible alienation there.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811213028
Publisher:	New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	11/17/1995
Series:	New Directions Paperbook
Pages:	142
Sales rank:	314,815
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Anne Carson was born in Canada and teaches ancient Greek for a living.

Editorial Reviews

Fusing confession, narrative and classicism, Carson's poetry witnesses the collision of heart and mind with breathtaking vitality. In five long poems and a final essay (the provocative ``The Gender of Sound''), her often droll tone and limber use of poetic form mediate a deeply philosophical undercurrent. The nine-part narrative poem, ``The Glass Essay,'' delivers a truth-telling mosaic of diverse subject-matter-including the speaker's departed lover, a visit to her mother, The Collected Works of Emily Bronte, sexual despair and loneliness and visions termed ``Nudes.'' Twenty wry, swift takes on ``The Truth About God'' include God's Christ Theory and The God Coup; ``T.V. Men'' wittily casts Sappho and Antonin Artaud as television personas, and explores the medium with ever-shifting refrains such as ``TV is made of light, like shame.'' The 70 brief sections comprising ``The Fall of Rome: A Traveller's Guide'' deliver a round-robin meditation on strangers, dread, holiness, and mastery; ``Book of Isaiah'' retells the prophet's struggles in jarring language that reads at once futuristic and supremely ancient. Like a miner's lamp, Carson's nuanced voice illuminates often-unexplored interior spaces. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly