American Noise [Paperback]

Campbell McGrath (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1994

American Noise is a rapturous exploration of American culture and landscape. With compassionate wit and insight, Campbell McGrath transports us on a journey through contemporary society, transforming the commonplace into scenes of profound revelation. From late-night bars to early-morning diners, suburban malls to the Mojave Desert, McGrath's meticulously detailed vision defines singular moments of joy and melancholy.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his second book of poetry, McGrath ( Capitalism ) writes about "America, the thing itself" and about coming of age in a world where there are "versions of Armageddon / cast up like driftwood on the shallow bar of my youth." His style draws on the Beat energy of the '50s; Jack Kerouac's spirit, in particular, hovers over the book. In "Wheel of Fire, The Mojave," McGrath drives across America "to find myself." And in "Blue Tulips and Night Train for Jack Kerouac's Grave," he travels on a bus, glimpses a blue light, "a manifestation of something deeper, a greater spirit," and wishes Kerouac "could have been there to take courage from it." His best writing bursts with ambition, as in "Nagasaki, Uncle Walt, the Eschatology of America's Century," with its "millennial hootenanny of ludic glee" and the links suggested between art and the destruction of figures (Jackson Pollock, Anne Sexton) from the poet's youth. Still, McGrath is often too much the observer. His life is "a favorite film with multiple endings" with his wife "the star of each." And sometimes verbal brilliance becomes an end in itself: "stroke the music's / cobbled skin, scaled like fifth notes / and luckless armadillos / flayed to stitch your honky-tonk vestment."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Campbell McGrath writes big, roughhousing, tender, visionary, reckless, purely American poems. He's a passionate democrat, the Whitman of our spoiled world. This is a brilliant, disturbing book." -- Chase Twichell

"Sly, passionate, funny and smart, and not in alternation but all at once, Campbell McGrath's poems are genuine, accurate, American, eccentric." -- William Matthews

"What a wild, intense, and gifted poet Campbell McGrath is! American Noise is one of the best books of poetry I have read by anyone of his generation." -- Thomas Lux

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (August 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880013745
• ISBN-13: 978-0880013741
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,274,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars !, April 5, 2000

By 

miriam (pittsburgh, pa, usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Noise (American Poetry Series) (Hardcover)

On a personal level, American Noise is the one book I take with me for vacations or long trips, it is poetry of personal escapism, and inspiration for my own writing. The book itself is composed of travel poetry and of poetry that offers precision and emotion, that paints a vivid picture of the southwest, of nonexistant wild horses in a travel guide and of standing in the shadow of the rock of gibralter without noticing, so overwhelmed with youth and exhuberance. furthermore, in my opinion, American Noise far outranks Capitalism and McGrath's newer book (Road Atlases? I forget) in terms of easily accessible beauty. This is a purchase I wholeheartedly recommend.