Something Close to Music: Late Art Writings, Poems, and Playlists
John Ashbery
(Author)
Description
An intimate and unique collection of the work of John Ashbery--a prolific poet and art critic--pairing poetry and art writings with playlists of music from his personal library. This book places poetry by Ashbery (1927-2017), gathered from his later collections, in conversation with a selection of contemporaneous art writing. In addition, as Ashbery loved music and listened to it while writing, the "playlists" here present samplings of music from these same years, culled from his own library of recordings. Ashbery's poetry is frequently described as ekphrastic, though, rather than writing a poem "based on" or "inspired" by the content of an artwork or piece of music, he engages with how the experience of seeing it and the artistic strategies employed offer ways of thinking about it and through it. Many observations from Ashbery's art writing also provide keys to how we might read his poetry. Many recordings he listened to feature contemporary classical works that emphasize complex textures, disparate sounds, and disjunct phrases. Ashbery's poetry similarly plays with a diversity of poetic textures and sudden turns such that a reader might construct multiple narratives or pathways of meaning. He rarely offers linear stories or focuses on evocative descriptions of a scene or object. In exploring this ekphrastic book project, the reader is invited to discover how, for Ashbery, these three forms might illuminate and inform one another. In Mónica de la Torre's introduction, she explores the connection between the three muses of music, art, and poetry, and the ekphrastic experience of reading Ashbery.
Product Details
Price
$15.00
$13.95
Publisher
David Zwirner Books
Publish Date
June 07, 2022
Pages
96
Dimensions
4.23 X 6.98 X 0.64 inches | 0.42 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781644230701
BISAC Categories:
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John Ashbery's latest book of poems is Quick Question. From 1960 to 1965, he was the International Herald Tribune art critic and the ARTnews Paris correspondent. France has named him a Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres and an Officier de la Légion d'honneur. He has received a National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Obama.