Sunrise in Armageddon

by Will Alexander

"...What I contrast with this is the perpetuity of energy, which is not quaint. The Indian peoples in the United States have been working on this whole idea of universe where nothing is apportioned or excluded. I mention this because the mind/body is a whole system. If one part of the system doesn't work, you become sick. The seeming tonic to this deadly malaise is psychic interconnection.But now just the opposite is happening. If you look at the newspaper, civilization is rife with separation and fracture......" Interview with Will Alexander, Rain TaxiSunrise in Armageddon is a work of blistering, sibyllic, incensed imagination. Will Alexander’s thicketed prose advances lexical ignitions of astounding angle and amplitude. Nathaniel Mackey, author of Splay AnthemRestless. riveting. Unnerving. Wilson Harris, author of Dark JesterOn one level, Alexander is like watching a new plant grow in a speeded-up film, in which all shoots, however obscure, appear to contribute to a veering and uncanny structure. On another level, he may be the first major “outsider artist” in American poetry, in as much as his work bears no relationship whatsoever to anyone in the twentieth-century American canon. Whatever he is, he is a force to reckon with, whose self-propelled soarings evoke Simon Rodia’s “Watts Towers” as well as Siberian ecstatics. Clayton Eshelman, author of Conductors of the Pit

386 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2006

About the author

Born in 1948, Will Alexander is a poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, visual artist and pianist. He was the recipient of a Whiting Fellowship for Poetry in 2001 and a California Arts Council Fellowship in 2002. He was also the subject of a colloquium published in the prestigious African American cultural journal, Callaloo in 1999. Author of nine previous books, Alexander has taught at various colleges including University of California, San Diego, New College (San Francisco, CA), Hofstra University, and Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, in addition to being associated with the nonprofit organization Theatre of Hearts/Youth First, serving at-risk youth. He is a lifelong resident of Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little torn with this one. Alexander's prose is exceptionally lyrical, powerful and (unlike a lot of contemporary peers) intelligible. In that sense I was real caught up in this book. On the other hand, his voice is basically an endless barrage of hyper-articulation and allusions, which had me rolling my eyes for most of the 382 pages.

I notice that a great deal of reviews out there on this book imitate Alexander's style in the review. Suggests to me that a lot of critics aren't even really sure how to talk about this book.