The Barons

by Joshua Corey

An epic meditation on contemporary American catastrophe and struggle

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2014

About the author

Joshua Corey writes poetry, fiction, and criticism. Lately he's been writing science fiction novels!

His recent publications include:

- How Long Is Now (Spuyten Duyvil Publishing, 2022), a novel.
- Hannah and the Master (MadHat Press, 2021), poetry.
- The Transcendental Circuit: Otherworlds of Poetry (MadHat Press, 2018), criticism.
- Partisan of Things (Kenning Editions, 2016), a new translation (with Jean-Luc Garneau) of rancis Ponge's 1942 book of prose poems, Le Parti pris des choses,

He lives in Evanston, Illinois with his wife and daughter and is a Professor of English at Lake Forest College.

Reviews

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joshua Corey's "The Barons" seems to run amok through the Aughts: the wars and the recessions. Corey's strengths is that his poetry has a manic quality that can run between humor, satire, and profundity. Often alternating between long, breathless lines and staccato lines, the alternating in rhyme and pacing mirrors the confusion of the decade Corey is writing verse about. Truly original in some ways but not totally inaccessible, this a very strong collection, although readers who have little patience for alternating tones and post-modern hybridity may not immediately enjoy the work.