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Retrievals
"I adore [Caples’] prescription to read widely and even perversely; and his breezy style is engaging." —Don Share
"Caples’ discussions are careful, nuanced, personal, and opinionated." —Steven Fama
"Caples is part of a younger generation of writers reinvigorating contemporary poetry by combining modernist and Language-poetic verbal angularity with the sheer enthusiasm and lustiness of adolescence." —Publishers Weekly
"Caples supplies us with a full aesthetic meal, with alarming images right out of the French Surrealists. He also means what he says; regardless of any implications to the contrary, Caples is writing out of emotion, even well-done sentiment." —Rain Taxi
From "Theory on Retrievals":The concept of the poet-critic has always been a compelling one to me; it's hard not to admire 19th century French poets like Gautier, writing elegant prose in newspapers on topics the general public was more interested in reading about than it was in reading his poetry. (I've never been one to hold the general public's lack of interest in poetry against it; that's the way of the world.) The compensation was that being a poet gave one a certain license as a critic to roam among all the arts.
Retrievals is a book of essays written over the course of ten years about underrecognized poets, unfairly discredited critics, and artists obscured by more famous relations.
Garrett Caples is the author of The Garrett Caples Reader (Angle Press/Black Square Editions, 1999), Complications (Meritage Press, 2007), and Quintessence of the Minor (Wave Books, 2010). He is the co-editor of The Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia (University of California Press, 2013). He is the poetry editor at City Lights Books, and curates the Spotlight Poetry Series there. He has a PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in Oakland.
"Caples’ discussions are careful, nuanced, personal, and opinionated." —Steven Fama
"Caples is part of a younger generation of writers reinvigorating contemporary poetry by combining modernist and Language-poetic verbal angularity with the sheer enthusiasm and lustiness of adolescence." —Publishers Weekly
"Caples supplies us with a full aesthetic meal, with alarming images right out of the French Surrealists. He also means what he says; regardless of any implications to the contrary, Caples is writing out of emotion, even well-done sentiment." —Rain Taxi
From "Theory on Retrievals":The concept of the poet-critic has always been a compelling one to me; it's hard not to admire 19th century French poets like Gautier, writing elegant prose in newspapers on topics the general public was more interested in reading about than it was in reading his poetry. (I've never been one to hold the general public's lack of interest in poetry against it; that's the way of the world.) The compensation was that being a poet gave one a certain license as a critic to roam among all the arts.
Retrievals is a book of essays written over the course of ten years about underrecognized poets, unfairly discredited critics, and artists obscured by more famous relations.
Garrett Caples is the author of The Garrett Caples Reader (Angle Press/Black Square Editions, 1999), Complications (Meritage Press, 2007), and Quintessence of the Minor (Wave Books, 2010). He is the co-editor of The Collected Poems of Philip Lamantia (University of California Press, 2013). He is the poetry editor at City Lights Books, and curates the Spotlight Poetry Series there. He has a PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley, and lives in Oakland.
- GenresPoetry
304 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 2014
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October 18, 2014
book from first reads.
i am really not sure how to rate this, so take it as you will.
this hits a lot of my requirements for interesting nonfiction -- it is essentially an essay collection bound together by the process of writing/research. its overall narrative is about the nature of art and recognition and is built in the margins of the individual pieces rather than in the text.
that said, though the book feels like it has a lot of direction, that strong sense of propulsion does not ultimately find a stable product stage. a good story SHOULD end with some tension, perhaps as much tension as has characterized the other "stages" of rising action etc., but here i mean that you reach the end and the various threads don't entirely come together to equal a full thought about its thesis. some essays in this book were violently interesting, but the following pieces did not build on them adequately. i think on the whole the book would be better served by a reordering the pieces for a more narrative product.
i am really not sure how to rate this, so take it as you will.
this hits a lot of my requirements for interesting nonfiction -- it is essentially an essay collection bound together by the process of writing/research. its overall narrative is about the nature of art and recognition and is built in the margins of the individual pieces rather than in the text.
that said, though the book feels like it has a lot of direction, that strong sense of propulsion does not ultimately find a stable product stage. a good story SHOULD end with some tension, perhaps as much tension as has characterized the other "stages" of rising action etc., but here i mean that you reach the end and the various threads don't entirely come together to equal a full thought about its thesis. some essays in this book were violently interesting, but the following pieces did not build on them adequately. i think on the whole the book would be better served by a reordering the pieces for a more narrative product.
Displaying 1 of 1 review