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Acquainted with the Night
The mysterious, seductive essence of the night has long entranced the imagination of artists and writers, and now it is the focus of a unique book that pairs evocative black-and-white photography with classic and contemporary poetry. Lynn Saville's photographs, shot after dark in and around New York and at other urban and rural sites in the United States, Portugal, Greece, and India, reveal unusual aspects of familiar cities and monuments as well as the dusky allure of fringe areas such as Manhattan's industrial district and desolate waterfronts. Rich with light and shadow, the photographs suggest the suspenseful, provocative quality of film noir.
Accompanying the photographs are 35 poems and poetic excerpts about the night, beginning with Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night," which inspired the book's title and mood. Selected here are works by Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Charles Simic, and Octavio Paz, among other award-winning poets, and citations from ancient verse such as the Rig Veda and The Epic of Gilgamesh . This volume speaks with contemplative beauty to those who love photography and poetry, and especially to all denizens of the night.
Accompanying the photographs are 35 poems and poetic excerpts about the night, beginning with Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night," which inspired the book's title and mood. Selected here are works by Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, Charles Simic, and Octavio Paz, among other award-winning poets, and citations from ancient verse such as the Rig Veda and The Epic of Gilgamesh . This volume speaks with contemplative beauty to those who love photography and poetry, and especially to all denizens of the night.
160 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 1997
22 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 7, 2019
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The reader became the book; and summer night
Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The words were spoken as if there was no book,
Except that the reader leaned above the page,
Wanted to lean, wanted much most to be
The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom
The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
The house was quiet because it had to be.
The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.
And of the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,
In which there is no other meaning, itself
Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself
Is the reader leaning late and reading there.
- Wallace Stevens
———
This book ranged poems of the night against moody black and white images of nightscapes - shadowed alleys, bright lit streets, buried lakes, and anxious rooftops. This book siphons that half aching desire and half fearful withdrawal that falls upon each of us as the sun abandons the sky to the thick rising night and presents it to us on the page a single, delicious experience.
The reader became the book; and summer night
Was like the conscious being of the book.
The house was quiet and the world was calm.
The words were spoken as if there was no book,
Except that the reader leaned above the page,
Wanted to lean, wanted much most to be
The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom
The summer night is like a perfection of thought.
The house was quiet because it had to be.
The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:
The access of perfection to the page.
And of the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,
In which there is no other meaning, itself
Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself
Is the reader leaning late and reading there.
- Wallace Stevens
———
This book ranged poems of the night against moody black and white images of nightscapes - shadowed alleys, bright lit streets, buried lakes, and anxious rooftops. This book siphons that half aching desire and half fearful withdrawal that falls upon each of us as the sun abandons the sky to the thick rising night and presents it to us on the page a single, delicious experience.
August 19, 2012
Ok, it was basically a photoessay, but I really liked the photographs, especially the ones of New York City. Loved all the night photos, they do give more of an aura of mystery, and the poetry was fitting as well.
November 29, 2016
Could’ve lived without most of the poetry. Some of the photographs of night lose a bit of their mystique in black & white. But the book did inspire me to revisit some night photographs I took years ago.
February 5, 2009
This book contains a good selection of poems, but a wonderful display of night photography. I love it.
February 25, 2012
Haunting and beautiful photographs, black and white, from Canada, Portugal, and mostly, New York. Poetry sprinkled throughout. Unique night-time perspective.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews