Blues and Roots/Rue and Bluets: A Garland for the Southern Appalachians [Hardcover]

Jonathan Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 9, 1985

Jonathan Williams’s poetry has been described as brilliant, sensuous, lyrical, quirky, suave, vital, joyful, sardonic, melodious, passionate, alive, pyrotechnic. This new, much enlarged edition of Blues and Roots displays all of the above. Williams has tramped the Appalachian Trail for decades, botanizing, jotting down specimens of authentic American speech, graffiti, superstitions, and nostrums—always curious, alert, and affectionately attentive. Blues and Roots focuses on the linguistic horizon of Appalachia in lyrics of wonder and light, of wit and comic incongruity, in found poems of the speech of his mountain neighbors. Publishers Weekly said of the earlier edition, “One of the most beautiful and evocative tributes to the Appalachians and its people yet published.” Blues and Roots is a fine celebration; Wiliams is a joyful ringmaster.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Jonathan Williams offers us in every poem a lyric line of suave clarity and highly involved verbal harmony.”—Guy Davenport

About the Author

Jonathan Williams (1929–2008), photographer, poet, and publisher, was founder of the Jargon Society Press. His many works include An Ear in Bartram's Tree: Selected Poems, 1957–1967; Quote,Unquote; A Palpable Elysium: Portraits of Genius and Solitude; The Magpie’s Bagpipe: Selected Essays; and Jubilant Thicket: New and Selected Poems as well as the collection Portrait Photographs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (August 9, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082230614X
• ISBN-13: 978-0822306146
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,543,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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