The Animals

by Richard Grossman

Richard Grossman's pastoral, THE ANIMALS, invites us to enter a world where all the inhabitants speak the same language, creating a powerful literary work that voices the concerns of the entire global community.

In its exploration of personal issues and emotions, this unique and moving book affirms the great family of terrestrial life, seeking to unveil the sources of its wisdom and beauty, sources that lie at the heart of all poetry. At the center of the book is a chorus of two hundred different animals, representing the broad spectrum of earthly life. As each of the creatures sings to us, their individual stories reveal how all life shares the same suffering, dignity, and joy. Surrounding these poems are dialogues between the animals as a flock and a shepherd who tends them.

THE ANIMALS has been described as an environmental bible, a manual of inspiration for people who are working to nourish and heal the Earth.

Genres: Poetry, Animals

500 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Born in Lubbock, Texas in 1943 and raised in Minneapolis, Richard Grossman received a BA in English Literature from Stanford University in 1965. After working as a high-level executive for a multi-national financial services company, he left the corporate world in 1976 in order to devote his time to writing. His first book of poetry, Tycoon Boy, was published by kayak in 1977 and was followed by The Animals (Zygote Press, 1983; Graywolf, 1990; revised edition, American Letters Press, 2011).

For the past two decades Grossman has been concentrating on a trilogy of novels entitled American Letters, intended to redefine the nature of writing. Its first two volumes, The Alphabet Man, describing hell, and The Book of Lazarus, describing purgatory, were published by FC2 in 1993 and 1997 respectively. The trilogy’s final installment, The Interstate Bingo, describing heaven, is forthcoming in 2014. The trilogy is among the 39 elements in Breeze Avenue, a 3,000,000-page work conceived by Grossman as a literary analog of cosmic consciousness. This project, whose ambition is to redefine the nature of literature, will be launched online in its comprehensive digital form in 2015 and then installed in a reading room as a set of 5,000 unique printed volumes. An abridged 6,000-page version of American Letters, presented in eight printed volumes, will follow. Additionally, 14 individual books from the trilogy are being published between 2011 and 2015. Works of art in a variety of media including sculptures, installations, videos, photographs, music, and theatrical performances are being produced by Grossman as part of the project.

Grossman’s poetry has appeared in over a hundred publications, including the Southern, Paris, North American, Chicago, and Hudson reviews. The Alphabet Man won the Illinois State University/Fiction Collective Two National Fiction Competition and was nominated for a PENWest Fiction Prize. Grossman and his wife currently live in Los Angeles, California and Makaweli, Hawaii.

Reviews

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly epic pastoral work consisting of over 400 poems, Grossman's writes in the animal's voices as if we could all understand each other. The premise going from Aardvark to Zebu, then Shepard to Silence, Grossman has minimalism that will resonate with fans of Robert Creeley or zen koans, although Grossman differs from both. While this is definitely meant to be consumed as a book as the poems definitely inform each other, almost all of them work on their own so you can move through poems individually.

[Booked 📚 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.75 - I think I'll need to reread this later on.

[Izzy]

Need to reread i remember nothing

[SeaBae · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE ANIMALS is a 400-poem pastoral that, at first glance, may seem daunting. The themes covered are deep and important: life, death, rebirth, hate, love, sex, war, society - anything and everything that make us alive and conscious. And the book takes the form of a give-and-take between a stand-in for humanity, the shepherd, and his flock, which is a Noah's Ark of animals from Aardvark to Zebu, with creatures as diverse as an amoeba, tapeworm, unicorn, and dodo. It's a lot to take in. But oh so worth it. A truly bravura work of literature.

Whether you read the poems individually or take the entire book as a whole, one can't help but be struck by the beauty of the language. And it packs a wallop, even in small doses. Take the entire poem for the Cardinal, for example:

"I was made
to make

snow look
more beautiful."

Or the Lovebird:

"Making love is private.
It is the most private

act in the world.
Closed off,

two bodies tell each other
how much they always hurt."

The shepherd poems also have their power. Another example, from The Continuum:

"If this is space,
they said,

then time
is movement.

If this is time,
they said,

then space
is rhythm.

If this is both,
they said,

then we
are torn.

If this is neither,
they said,

then we
were never born."

I could go on - but try the book for yourself. You will be moved, challenged, and ultimately enriched.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Plants

The animals were captivated.
We want soil, they said.

A book of poems covering the Animals from Aardvark through Loon and on to Zebu, and plants, the shepherd and the universe. I bought this when it came out for its handsome design and Nicholas Africano gouaches, a rock opera of a theme for a poetry book. Before and after the Fall we were with the Animals in a very different way.

[Kelly Knapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grossman writes about all the various animals. A few seemed to make sense and were great, but too many were esoteric and did not allow for great understanding. Still, the subjects and poems were pretty and perhaps I just don't get poetry.

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not what i was expecting. I was intrigued by the environmental bible concept. I will admit that there are some intresting connections made but the focus of fornication makes taking this piece in hard. I will admit that there are some quotes that I love.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Animals were captivated.
We want soil they said,

[Alberteinsteinmaloney · Rating 4 out of 5]

lemming

What is it
about the sea
that is appealing?

We are all inferior
to each other,
incompetent, astray.

When we head
in one direction,
the pain goes away.

[Dana Jerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This comes off like a published exercise, and perhaps it is. Ok, but the line breaks make it hard to read and read aloud, and too often Grossman goes for the cheap rhyme.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through the First Reads giveaway program on Goodreads. Review to follow.