Reading Peter Reading

by Isabel Martín

Peter Reading is one of Britain's most prolific, versatile, startlingly contemporary, and strikingly original poets. Reading maps out an inconsolably sad and, at times, hilariously funny picture of England-and the world-in decline. His eschatological vision chastises a world gone morally, ecologically, and politically insane. Both bleak and deeply humane, his harrowing art aspires to, nothing less than, a distilled elegiac epic of our time. The destruction also strikes at Reading's art itself-the last six books are one long valedictory, culminating in his own death statement, Ob. 'Reading Peter Reading' illuminates the poet's thematic and formal concerns, paradoxes, and development, as well as underlining his major status in contemporary literature. Its updated, detailed, textual analysis will help the readers' understanding of the poetry and provide a thorough and substantial basis for any future critical discussion of Reading's work.

319 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[zunggg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Martin lays the foundation stone for the future edifice of Reading scholarship with this panoptic survey. The cooperation of the curmudgeonly bard himself makes this a useful companion to the Collected.