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Against Romance
Poetry. A reprinted edition of the celebrated 1987 Penguin edition (a collection) by the 1985 winner of the Academy of American Poets Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poets Award. "Blumenthal's new collection moves surely through the contradictions implied by its title. Belonging to the "central" modernist tradition of Wallace Stevens and informed by both wit and intelligence, the poems take us through a variety of topics and moods without losing sight of the book's pivotal experience, a divorce. Urbane, sophisticated, sometimes self-deprecatory, Blumenthal sustains an observant distance, which only emphasizes the romantic yearning underlying the book's theme. The best poems work well, arching toward an ethereal, metaphysical tone, as in these lines from the title "and when life turns its dimmed lights up/ once again and the theater empties,/ they find the stranger love always delivers up." Other poems feel like exercises, but Blumenthal's voice is growing more authentic"--Library Journal.
- GenresPoetry
114 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 1987
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About the author
W. Michael Blumenthal
22 books12 followersAKA: Michael Blumenthal
A graduate of Cornell Law School and formerly Director of Creative Writing at Harvard, Michael Blumenthal is the author of eight books of poetry, including No Hurry (Etruscan Press, 2011). He is also the author of the novel Weinstock Among the Dying, and the memoir All My Mothers and Fathers, among other books. Currently Visiting Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law, he lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, and Hegymagas, Hungary.
A graduate of Cornell Law School and formerly Director of Creative Writing at Harvard, Michael Blumenthal is the author of eight books of poetry, including No Hurry (Etruscan Press, 2011). He is also the author of the novel Weinstock Among the Dying, and the memoir All My Mothers and Fathers, among other books. Currently Visiting Professor of Law at the West Virginia University College of Law, he lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, and Hegymagas, Hungary.
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