The Absolute Letter
Andrew Joron
(Author)Description
"To Surrealism's associative leaps, juxtapositions, and kitsch paradoxes, Joron's savage detective lends his background in the philosophy of science, borrowing from non-linear systems theory, linguistic anthropology and speculative narrative for his poetics, which are at once lyrical and emphatic to the point of dissonance: 'Poetry is the self-organized criticality of the cry.' He leans heavily on sound--homophones, alliterations and paronomasias resonantly determine signs and linkages--raiding the stuff of light verse for his serious project. As in a haunted house of the twentieth century ('the people could not be distinguished from deserted buildings'; 'the city, the arc of an abandoned soliloquy'), blurs of consonance, assonance, and letter shapes can seem to do things all by themselves."--David Lau, New Left Review
Product Details
| Publisher | Flood Editions |
| Publish Date | March 16, 2017 |
| Pages | 80 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780998169507 |
| Dimensions | 8.4 X 6.0 X 0.3 inches | 0.3 pounds |
About the Author
Reviews
"Poet and translator Joron returns with a fiercely political and theoretical, linguistically and ontologically wily collection"--Publishers Weekly
"As a nesting doll is to a child, with so many secreted opportunities, language is a toy for Joron--and I mean that in a good way. It exists to be exalted in; the heard-out-loud wonder that can be enacted via putting one certain word next to another certain word."--Jeff Alessandrelli, Colorado Review
"n terms of Joron's own poetic practice, this musical tuning toward criticality --toward the emergence (and emergency) of ontological lament -- plays out on the page through a formidable ensemble of techniques, including the use of densely patterned consonance and assonance, internal rhyming, strategic caesuras, the masterful modulation of vowel sounds, and entrancing homophonic orchestration. . . . This eagerly awaited book significantly expands upon the achievements of Joron's Trance Archive: New and Selected Poems, a terrific volume published in the City Lights Spotlight Series in 2010. The Absolute Letter confirms that no other contemporary poet brings together such technical proficiency, imaginative insight, and philosophical rigor."--Michael Leong, Hyperallergic
"Words are unveiled then veiled then unveiled again, each instance being a further unfurling of divergent combinations of sense and sound. Vowels are exchanged and rearranged, words bounce off one another in an ever-transforming cascade of echoes. Reading becomes utterly tonal, heavily invested in the cosmic play of language's ephemeral presence . . ."--Patrick James Dunagan, Rain Taxi
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