Holy Smoke

by Fanny Howe

A woman travels among geographies both real and imagined looking for her daughter.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Literature

116 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Fanny Quincy Howe was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. She was raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Howe wrote more than 20 books of poetry and prose. Her major works include poetry such as One Crossed Out, Gone, and Second Childhood; the novels Nod, The Deep North, and Indivisible; and collected essays such as The Wedding Dress: Meditations on Word and Life and The Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocation.
Howe received praise and official recognition: she was awarded the 2009 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize by the Poetry Foundation. She also received the Gold Medal for Poetry from the Commonwealth Club of California. In addition, her Selected Poems received the 2001 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets for the most outstanding book of poetry published in 2000. She was a finalist for the 2015 International Booker Prize. She also received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Poetry Foundation, the California Arts Council, and the Village Voice. She was professor of writing and literature at the University of California, San Diego and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Nate D · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tersely fragmented experimental political thriller from the disillusioned wreckage of 60s radicalism, roving from Cuba to the NYC underground, to the wilds of Canada. This is a novel about what is left after ideals collapse and one is left to sort out a life amidst the nagging memory of past hopes. Recast, of course, as an adventure road novel in search of a lost daughter. Its disintegrating form makes it hard, thematically, to hang onto by the end, but that's precisely why I already feel that I need to re-read it. As a long-vanished Fiction Collective publication of 1979, this just renews my assurance that that whole catalog is worth running down.

[Yigru Zeltil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novel-in-verse (or almost) by one of the writers associated with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry. And indeed, there's something poetic about this, but it is also a novel of suspense in the same time (as what we read is actually the notebook of the main character, who transcribes dialogues and digresses about various thing - she especially reports her "visions" of the Virgin Mary) - a mixture that, I think, one could hardly pull off with mainstream success now, long after the heydays of "postmodernism" (or the idea of it) -- but this was published in 1979. Too lazy right now to write more about this, but it is definitely an enjoyable AND innovative book (did I forgot to mention the "illustrations" that seem at first random, but prove to be part-and-parcel of the book?).

[LM · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A wet Saturday, drenching rain, grey & warm, seems like spring, causes people to do weird things, like buy lipstick or go insane.”

Aaaa love literatuur waar taalspel én politieke radicaliteit samenkomen! Holy smoke!!

[Eric Cecil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pangs of Joy Williams, Ann Quin and Rudolph Wurlitzer.

[Tom Buchanan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Carson meets Vineland kinda situation.

[Matty G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes words on a page just kinda look and sound cool and sometimes funny so you decide to write them down. Just so wonderfully and creatively written. A total fever dream. Convincing yourself that you’re a born again virgin so you can hallucinate conversations with the virgin mary >>>>>>>

Big fan of how everyone in this book seems to think that Quebec is basically the entirety of Canada and Anglophones don’t really exist.

If the left is always west and the right is always east, then north must be overhead and south below. Is Canada a metaphor for Heaven? Or close to it, and why is it so cold?

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

fanny howe’s novels are criminally underrated

[Kyle Schnitzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goated. Proper for the times of today.

[Bunbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

“On your death bed, will you be able to say, I helped the poor in their struggle for justice? Or will you only be able to quote Baudelaire?
Either case would be pompous.”

“The last word is
To Love-
-lubere, amor, leaf, amiable, amazing grace, amazon and ammunition, lamb-of-the-pink side, la-la,
to eat to sleep to want to kill
to want to eat to sleep, to kill
to sleep to kill to want to eat
to kill to eat to sleep to want

to love equals to lug your luggage
all the way around the country
in a big blizzard
to earn some bread
to feed the one
you is equal to ”

This book is entirely gonzo nutso bananas. Brilliant stuff.

[sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice to read something so short and light but full of imagery, thoughts to chew on, such a distinct voice that summons history and personal shortcomings and the difficulty of occupying the world, with all its haunted spirits and human relationships that set our limitation. The blend of poetry & prose is so effective and beautiful, the clarity of the language made even the most abstract images feel reachable - heavy in some ways but still delighting. Hope to return to it sometime.

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Far out, man. Play it loud and soft or not.

[Clementine Bevan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/1 : reminded me so much of Ann Quin and also my book melted and the pages all fell out

[Belinda Morén · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic read. I have a new favorite author.