20th Century Pleasures [Paperback]

Robert Hass (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 12, 2000

U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass considers some of the twentiethcentury poets who bring him pleasure: Robert Lowll, JamesWright, Tomas Transtromer, Joseph Brodsky, Yvor Winters,Robert Creeley, James McMichael, Czeslaw Milosz, and others,in this, his first collection of essays. Originally published in1984, Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry won theNational Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. A new collection of Robert Hass's essays will be published by Ecco in 1998.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Here [is] theproseofan intelligent man who wishes to served poetry--not appropriate it or crow over it or show off as its expense--and this is a rare enough experience to arouse gratitude and admiration." -- Times Literary Supplement

"[Hass'] final intention is not merely to judge but to give a picture of the writer's mind.... Mr. Hass believes that poetry is what defines the self, and it is his ability to describe that process that is the heart of this book's pleasure." -- New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Robert Hass is the author of two earlier collections of poems, Field Guide and Praise, and a book of essays, Twentieth Century Pleasures. He has also collaborated with Czeslaw Milosz on the translation of his poems, most recently Collected Poems. His many honors include a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship and the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. He has taught for many years at St. Mary's College of California and is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Ecco; 0003- edition (January 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088001539X
• ISBN-13: 978-0880015394
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Hass was born in San Francisco in 1941. He attended St. Mary's College and Stanford University. His books of poetry include Time and Materials, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 and the National Book Award in 2008; Sun Under Wood, for which he received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996; Human Wishes; Praise, for which he received the William Carlos Williams Award in 1979; and Field Guide, which was selected by Stanley Kunitz for the Yale Younger Poets Series. Hass also worked with Czeslaw Milosz to translate a dozen volumes of Milosz's poetry, including the book-length Treatise on Poetry and, most recently, A Second Space. His translations of the Japanese haiku masters have been collected in The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa. His books of essays include Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism in 1984, and Now and Then: The Poet's Choice Columns, 1997-2000. From 1995 to 1997 he served as poet laureate of the United States. He lives in northern California with his wife, the poet Brenda Hillman, and teaches English at the University of California at Berkeley.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars yes April 20, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

part of what makes this book so wonderful is the way hass captures his love of poetry in prose that is warm and consistently interesting and inviting, which is a big difference from most essays on poems coming out these days, which are long on ideas and short on awe. excellent and heartfelt.

1 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry September 17, 2005

By Patricia Collins

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Thank you for a textbook that was clean and in excellent condition!