Brilliantly exploring the life and work of American artist Joseph Cornell, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Simic utilizes a series of short prose pieces that scavenge the dark corners of New York City by way of the nooks and crannies of his own imagination, creating the literary equivalent of Cornell's art. Photos.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
It's hard to do justice to the charm and power of Joseph Cornell's boxes. His reliance on collage, indifference to technical display, and Surrealist mining of private obsession make him very much a modern artist, yet his work also brings to mind bourgeois parlors, the tidy vitrines of collectors, and the odds and ends children carry around for comfort and distraction. It is an art at once hermetic and matter-of-fact, sophisticated and simple. Appropriately, this study is neither a straightforward critical account of Cornell's art nor a merely literary embellishment of it, but rather a parallel text: written by Simic ( Hotel Insomnia ), one of our best poets, it includes his own poems and reminiscences, as well as quotations from a variety of other writers. Simic mingles biography and critical discussion with selections of writings from the artist's notebooks. The book emerges as a piece of writing constructed along the enigmatic lines of Cornell's art. And that art, as Simic sees it, gathers from the scattered pieces of the American past a new, redeeming reality; at heart, this art is a religious practice. Only seemingly random, Simic's approach develops both the plain detail of Cornell's life and illuminates the nature of his work. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Dime-Store Alchemy . . . is the most sustained literary response this
far to Cornell's boxes, montages, and films . . . Incisive,
freewheeling, dramatic?a mixture of evocation and observation, as lucid
and shadowy as the imagination it celebrates . . . Dime-Store Alchemy
is a meeting of kindred spirits that is itself a work of art." --Edward
Hirsch, The New Yorker
"Dime-Store Alchemy is a collection of crystalline paragraphs, of
irreplaceable miniatures, it is an act of homage, an ideal commentary,
suffused with the peculiar charm, the oneiric energy of its subject, it
is pure illumination, Simic at his very best." --Mark Strand
"A beautiful book that evokes Cornell's artistic spirit." --Harper's
Bazaar
"It's hard to do justice to the charm and power of Joseph Cornell's
boxes. His reliance on collage, indifference to technical display, and
Surrealist mining of private obsession make him very much a modern
artist, yet his work also brings to mind bourgeois parlors, the tidy
vitrines of collectors, and the odds and ends children carry around for
comfort and distraction. It is an art at once hermetic and
matter-of-fact, sophisticated and simple. Appropriately, this study is
neither a straightforward critical account of Cornell's art nor a
merely literary embellishment of it, but rather a parallel text:
written by Simic ( Hotel Insomnia ), one of our best poets, it includes
his own poems and reminiscences, as well as quotations from a variety
of other writers. Simic mingles biography and critical discussion with
selections of writings from the artist's notebooks. The book emerges as
a piece of writing constructed along the enigmatic lines of Cornell's
art. And that art, as Simic sees it, gathers from the scattered pieces
of the American past a new, redeeming reality; at heart, this art is a
religious practice. Only seemingly random, Simic's approach develops
both the plain detail of Cornell's life and illuminates the nature of
his work." --Publisher's Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
far to Cornell's boxes, montages, and films . . . Incisive,
freewheeling, dramatic?a mixture of evocation and observation, as lucid
and shadowy as the imagination it celebrates . . . Dime-Store Alchemy
is a meeting of kindred spirits that is itself a work of art." --Edward
Hirsch, The New Yorker
"Dime-Store Alchemy is a collection of crystalline paragraphs, of
irreplaceable miniatures, it is an act of homage, an ideal commentary,
suffused with the peculiar charm, the oneiric energy of its subject, it
is pure illumination, Simic at his very best." --Mark Strand
"A beautiful book that evokes Cornell's artistic spirit." --Harper's
Bazaar
"It's hard to do justice to the charm and power of Joseph Cornell's
boxes. His reliance on collage, indifference to technical display, and
Surrealist mining of private obsession make him very much a modern
artist, yet his work also brings to mind bourgeois parlors, the tidy
vitrines of collectors, and the odds and ends children carry around for
comfort and distraction. It is an art at once hermetic and
matter-of-fact, sophisticated and simple. Appropriately, this study is
neither a straightforward critical account of Cornell's art nor a
merely literary embellishment of it, but rather a parallel text:
written by Simic ( Hotel Insomnia ), one of our best poets, it includes
his own poems and reminiscences, as well as quotations from a variety
of other writers. Simic mingles biography and critical discussion with
selections of writings from the artist's notebooks. The book emerges as
a piece of writing constructed along the enigmatic lines of Cornell's
art. And that art, as Simic sees it, gathers from the scattered pieces
of the American past a new, redeeming reality; at heart, this art is a
religious practice. Only seemingly random, Simic's approach develops
both the plain detail of Cornell's life and illuminates the nature of
his work." --Publisher's Weekly --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delicious!!,
By patrick Thompson (Oil City, PA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dime Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell (Writers on Art) (Paperback)
Reading Dime-Store Alchemy is a fine way to get to know Joseph Cornell's work (and of course Charles Simic's). Simic uses a writing style which pieces together different elements of Cornell's favorite authors and poets, beautifully reflecting the montage operation created by Cornell himself. As Simic ambiguously reveals aspects of Cornell's life in New York City, the reader finds him/herself on the same search for an understanding of beauty that the artist spent his entire life investigating. Don't miss it!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dime Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell,
By
This review is from: Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell (New York Review Books Classics) (Hardcover)
This elegant book reminded me of "Einstien's Dreams." The book is about the genius of imagination. Cornell's provincial life gave him the opportunity to observe his world closely and let it expand into his art. The writing by the poet Simic is a piece of art in itself.
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Woops! Only 8 photos on this book.,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell (New York Review Books Classics) (Hardcover)
After reading the reviews, i was eager to receive this, especially as I'm only beginning my journey into the mind of Joseph Cornell. I was disappointed. The book is tiny - there are photos of only eight of Cornell's works and the prose, although nice, really isn't all that enlightening or inspiring, giving me nary a "hmm" factor.
It's a lovely little book for what it is, which isn't much. If like me, you're just discovering Cornell, this is not the place to start. I wish I knew the best place to point you, but I'm looking for that myself.
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6
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- The Demon and the Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration by Edward Hirsch on 4 pages
- The Demon and the Angel: Searching for the Source of Artistic Inspiration by Edward Hirsch on page 168, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- This Mad Instead: Governing Metaphors in Contemporary American Fiction by Arthur M. Saltzman in Back Matter
- Remarkable Modernisms: Contemporary American Authors on Modern Art by Daniel Morris on page 75
- Twice upon a Time: Women Writers and the History of the Fairy Tale by Elizabeth Wanning Harries in Back Matter
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