"A" - 24

by Louis Zukofsky

Complete one-volume edition of A, which was previously available only in pieces.

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Louis Zukofsky was one of the most important second-generation American modernist poets. He was co-founder and primary theorist of the Objectivist group of poets and was to be an important influence on subsequent generations of poets in America and abroad.

Reviews

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heh, a mashup from 1972 as a printed score published as a hardback book. Self-described as a five-part masque (the word mashup didn't exist then), the voices being Handel's 'Harpsichord Pieces', and four arrangements of prior works by Zukofsky representing 'Thought', 'Drama','Story' and 'Poem'.

Clam dever, Cagelike, etc. Hoping to tickle via coincidence and density. Makes me wonder if this works better as performance rather than eying the silent printed marks on the pages. And it reminds me, obliquely, of Ursonate by Kurt Schwitters.

It's challenging to read the simultaneous voices; I find myself skipping up and down between them. Continuity is lost, but that's probably just fine, continuity isn't necessarily the point. To quote from the Thought line on p. 70, "... everything is moving and mixing with everything else." It's about sound effects as much as unexpected conjunctions of word and phrase.

[Dillon Westbrook]

Won't ever be done reading this- too many levels, each of them too deep. A more subtle approach to the interface of printed music and text, sound and speech than anything else I've come across.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

"A24" is included in complete editions of _A_, and there is a nice New Directions edition of _A_ currently in print.