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WRIT IN WATER: A novel of John Keats
This is literary fiction, for fans of John Keats, but also for all fans of the literary process. Here’s the setup:
It is February 23, 1821. Beloved British poet John Keats finds himself in a “way station” somewhere above Rome, where his physical life has just ended after a mere 25 years. A mysterious spirit nearby is trying to communicate with him.
As spectral images from Keats’ past confront him and heart-wrenching memories unfold for his review, one captivating scene follows another, building to a breathtaking conclusion when the poet is witness to a life-defining secret.
It is February 23, 1821. Beloved British poet John Keats finds himself in a “way station” somewhere above Rome, where his physical life has just ended after a mere 25 years. A mysterious spirit nearby is trying to communicate with him.
As spectral images from Keats’ past confront him and heart-wrenching memories unfold for his review, one captivating scene follows another, building to a breathtaking conclusion when the poet is witness to a life-defining secret.
176 pages, ebook
Published April 25, 2021
11 people want to read
About the author
James Sulzer
9 books4 followersJames Sulzer lives in Nantucket, Massachusetts. A graduate of Yale University, where he was a Yale National Scholar, he is the author of the new mystery All That Smolders. Other published works include a novel about Emily Dickinson, The Voice at the Door and a novel about John Keats, Writ in Water, as well as the novel Nantucket Daybreak and a trilogy of middle grade novels for children, The Card People. He taught elementary and middle school students for 30 years and has produced countless “Sonic id’s” for Public Radio. In his early years on the island, he labored as a commercial scalloper and sang professionally in a barbershop quartet.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 28, 2021
This is an absolute gem of a book, beautifully written in a fascinating form and beautifully designed--all of which is appropriate to its subject, an iconic Romantic poet who created some of the most beautiful poems in the English language.
If you're at all familiar with the life of John Keats, you know that he was plagued by horrendous challenges yet never lost his dedication to honing his poetic genius. WRIT ON WATER maps his journey by focusing on the moment of his premature death, when certain choices he made in his lifetime come back to haunt him as does a spirit guide in the form of a nightingale. I won't give away the ending except to say Sulzer's own language is vibrant with Keatsian beauty and truth.
If you're at all familiar with the life of John Keats, you know that he was plagued by horrendous challenges yet never lost his dedication to honing his poetic genius. WRIT ON WATER maps his journey by focusing on the moment of his premature death, when certain choices he made in his lifetime come back to haunt him as does a spirit guide in the form of a nightingale. I won't give away the ending except to say Sulzer's own language is vibrant with Keatsian beauty and truth.
April 28, 2021
From THE US REVIEW OF BOOKS:
book review by Nicole Yurcaba
"In this twilight world, the song of the nightingale is reborn as a strand in the eternal tapestry of light and darkness, weaving the weft of its eternal affirmation through the warp of time and change, of loss and longing."
In this hauntingly poetic depiction of the tragically short life of the poet John Keats, readers follow a guardian spirit, one visible and sensed by only one person—the poet himself. As Keats suffers poverty, immense familial loss, and the all-consuming grief that follows, he also endures the painful emotional rollercoaster known as "love" as he navigates a tumultuous romance with Fanny Brawne, the captivating woman whose family hopes will marry well and for wealth. Meanwhile, the real tour guide of Keats' experiences for readers is the unnamed spirit who observes and directs Keats directly and indirectly. The spirit is often hesitant to intervene but feels pity for the poet who continually strives for a place among the English greats and fails to meet society's expectations. This is not because he isn't worthy, but because of the circumstances that life and society have shaped for him.
A quiet masterpiece, this book is an elegantly philosophical depiction of the life of the youngest of the Romantic poets. Embracing the ideologies of the Romantic movement by glorifying nature, admitting and accepting emotions, and utilizing spiritual and supernatural elements, this book is a gateway into the poetry of one of the world's most celebrated and quoted poets. It masterfully weaves a biographical tale with snippets of odes, insights about poetry and poetry writing, and delicate reflections about aestheticism, beauty, and truth. This book is sure to appeal to poetry lovers, especially those with a penchant for historical fiction and Keats' work. Its beautifully interwoven narratives create an artistic, enticing, and tantalizing birdsong, one that trails and echoes in readers' minds and spirits long after they have finished reading.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
From MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW:
Fans of poet John Keats who like literary fiction works will relish Writ in Water: A Novel of John Keats. Keats died at just 25 years old, but here, his soul lives on as he communicates with spirits, observes the world and his place in it, and considers the impact of his writing.
The story opens from the perspective of a simple bird who observes the "wingless creatures" known as humans and, in particular, the woebegone figure of poet Keats, who "is in peril." Somehow, the bird knows that his mission is to stay close to this suffering young poet who, after listening to his special song, "began to fill up some white squares with long trails of those things they call words."
As the bird's spirit blends with the poet's reflection on his unrealized life goals, a poetic series of descriptions and fictional and biographic insights emerges, using literary devices to bind together the spirit of Keats and the worlds he encounters. His angst is nicely captured: "Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. All my life and death remain a mystery but for one certainty. In every dream that I cherished, I failed."
So are his encounters with the bird spirit, and the opportunity to review the world from a different perspective: "The little spirit flutters out of my hands and hovers at a distance from me. We are almost as close to the earth now as we were at our first meeting—I can espy the grey procession of the Spanish Steps and the distant dark hollow of the Colosseum—and we resume our slow, upward drift while, below us, my life continues to unfold in excruciating detail."
Literary readers with prior affection for and familiarity with Keats, his works, and his life will especially appreciate the allusions and connections James Sulzer cultivates in this fictional fantasy review.
From the promise of his love for Fanny Brawne and his secret engagement to an illness which takes a turn for the worse, dashing his dreams and future, the life of Keats assumes the form of a quiet three-dimensional drama that gives a compellingly realistic feel to his world and art.
Readers who enjoy literary works with a spiritual overlay that rests as firmly on biographical representation as fictional magical realism will find Writ in Water: A Novel of John Keats a thought-provoking celebration of Keats' world. It liberally paraphrases from and quotes his works, including his letters, throughout; and is strongly backed by Sulzer's extensive research into the critical biographical literature surrounding Keats.
D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
book review by Nicole Yurcaba
"In this twilight world, the song of the nightingale is reborn as a strand in the eternal tapestry of light and darkness, weaving the weft of its eternal affirmation through the warp of time and change, of loss and longing."
In this hauntingly poetic depiction of the tragically short life of the poet John Keats, readers follow a guardian spirit, one visible and sensed by only one person—the poet himself. As Keats suffers poverty, immense familial loss, and the all-consuming grief that follows, he also endures the painful emotional rollercoaster known as "love" as he navigates a tumultuous romance with Fanny Brawne, the captivating woman whose family hopes will marry well and for wealth. Meanwhile, the real tour guide of Keats' experiences for readers is the unnamed spirit who observes and directs Keats directly and indirectly. The spirit is often hesitant to intervene but feels pity for the poet who continually strives for a place among the English greats and fails to meet society's expectations. This is not because he isn't worthy, but because of the circumstances that life and society have shaped for him.
A quiet masterpiece, this book is an elegantly philosophical depiction of the life of the youngest of the Romantic poets. Embracing the ideologies of the Romantic movement by glorifying nature, admitting and accepting emotions, and utilizing spiritual and supernatural elements, this book is a gateway into the poetry of one of the world's most celebrated and quoted poets. It masterfully weaves a biographical tale with snippets of odes, insights about poetry and poetry writing, and delicate reflections about aestheticism, beauty, and truth. This book is sure to appeal to poetry lovers, especially those with a penchant for historical fiction and Keats' work. Its beautifully interwoven narratives create an artistic, enticing, and tantalizing birdsong, one that trails and echoes in readers' minds and spirits long after they have finished reading.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review
From MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW:
Fans of poet John Keats who like literary fiction works will relish Writ in Water: A Novel of John Keats. Keats died at just 25 years old, but here, his soul lives on as he communicates with spirits, observes the world and his place in it, and considers the impact of his writing.
The story opens from the perspective of a simple bird who observes the "wingless creatures" known as humans and, in particular, the woebegone figure of poet Keats, who "is in peril." Somehow, the bird knows that his mission is to stay close to this suffering young poet who, after listening to his special song, "began to fill up some white squares with long trails of those things they call words."
As the bird's spirit blends with the poet's reflection on his unrealized life goals, a poetic series of descriptions and fictional and biographic insights emerges, using literary devices to bind together the spirit of Keats and the worlds he encounters. His angst is nicely captured: "Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced. All my life and death remain a mystery but for one certainty. In every dream that I cherished, I failed."
So are his encounters with the bird spirit, and the opportunity to review the world from a different perspective: "The little spirit flutters out of my hands and hovers at a distance from me. We are almost as close to the earth now as we were at our first meeting—I can espy the grey procession of the Spanish Steps and the distant dark hollow of the Colosseum—and we resume our slow, upward drift while, below us, my life continues to unfold in excruciating detail."
Literary readers with prior affection for and familiarity with Keats, his works, and his life will especially appreciate the allusions and connections James Sulzer cultivates in this fictional fantasy review.
From the promise of his love for Fanny Brawne and his secret engagement to an illness which takes a turn for the worse, dashing his dreams and future, the life of Keats assumes the form of a quiet three-dimensional drama that gives a compellingly realistic feel to his world and art.
Readers who enjoy literary works with a spiritual overlay that rests as firmly on biographical representation as fictional magical realism will find Writ in Water: A Novel of John Keats a thought-provoking celebration of Keats' world. It liberally paraphrases from and quotes his works, including his letters, throughout; and is strongly backed by Sulzer's extensive research into the critical biographical literature surrounding Keats.
D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
April 27, 2021
It has been a long time since I have read the poetry of Keats and I have to thank James Sulzer for bringing him into my consciousness again in this learned literary novel.
Writ in Water is original in the way that it is structured. The author has chosen to juxtapose two narratives: one, the reflections of Keats on his short life and the other, the viewpoint of a mysterious spirit, the identity of which becomes clear during the course of the novel. Sulzer switches between the different perspectives, the spirit being an observer of Keats as he relives decisions that he made, memories that he has, regrets that he harbours as he hovers in a metaphysical pocket between this world and the next after his death in Rome.
The book reads like you are observing a series of visions, dipping in and out of reminiscences, all of which have served to shape the poet and influence his life and the narrative has an ethereal quality to it, which equates with the idea that it is Keats’ troubled essence, which is guiding the book’s thread.
The idea of the spirit is ambitious, as a detached commentator on Keats’ agonies and I liked the incorporation of bird imagery and comparisons in the parts where the spirit narrates, lightly feathering the text.
Sulzer’s book is an imaginative dreamlike odyssey that puzzled me at first and I’m not wholly certain that the way that the book is constructed allows it to flow.
However, there is much that I loved about this book like the scenes that the author creates of Keats’ life, bringing alive his relationships with family, Fanny Brawne and his contemporaries with such poise, knowledge and crisp dialogue that they ring true. His knowledge of Keats’ life is exemplary and shows a clear love for the poet and his works and this is one of the things that I will take away from this book. I loved Sulzer’s writing style as it is clear in its purpose, his crafting of sentences is measured and confident and his phrases are full of imagery. His interpretation of Keats’ voice, for me, is right.
The book ends well with an appropriate conclusion, effectively seeking a resolution for the poet to enable his transcendence.
All in all, for me, the structure of the narrative was too dominant; however, Sulzer’s words are beautifully written within that.
This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.
Writ in Water is original in the way that it is structured. The author has chosen to juxtapose two narratives: one, the reflections of Keats on his short life and the other, the viewpoint of a mysterious spirit, the identity of which becomes clear during the course of the novel. Sulzer switches between the different perspectives, the spirit being an observer of Keats as he relives decisions that he made, memories that he has, regrets that he harbours as he hovers in a metaphysical pocket between this world and the next after his death in Rome.
The book reads like you are observing a series of visions, dipping in and out of reminiscences, all of which have served to shape the poet and influence his life and the narrative has an ethereal quality to it, which equates with the idea that it is Keats’ troubled essence, which is guiding the book’s thread.
The idea of the spirit is ambitious, as a detached commentator on Keats’ agonies and I liked the incorporation of bird imagery and comparisons in the parts where the spirit narrates, lightly feathering the text.
Sulzer’s book is an imaginative dreamlike odyssey that puzzled me at first and I’m not wholly certain that the way that the book is constructed allows it to flow.
However, there is much that I loved about this book like the scenes that the author creates of Keats’ life, bringing alive his relationships with family, Fanny Brawne and his contemporaries with such poise, knowledge and crisp dialogue that they ring true. His knowledge of Keats’ life is exemplary and shows a clear love for the poet and his works and this is one of the things that I will take away from this book. I loved Sulzer’s writing style as it is clear in its purpose, his crafting of sentences is measured and confident and his phrases are full of imagery. His interpretation of Keats’ voice, for me, is right.
The book ends well with an appropriate conclusion, effectively seeking a resolution for the poet to enable his transcendence.
All in all, for me, the structure of the narrative was too dominant; however, Sulzer’s words are beautifully written within that.
This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC.
May 29, 2021
I join the chorus of others who have discovered this unique gem, with its elegant prose and masterful storytelling. I particularly loved the intimate scenes with Keats and Fanny Brawne. Writ in Water is a stunning work of literature. Like the nightingale, I will simply use the words of the author to help me describe what I feel about the story …
Absolutely splendid.
Dreamlike majesty.
Exquisite.
Absolutely splendid.
Dreamlike majesty.
Exquisite.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews