From Library Journal
This volume (along with one by Nancy Willard) inaugurates the "Bread Loaf Contemporaries" series, books published not for their commercial potential but for their literary merit. Pulitzer Prize-winner Justice offers a distillation of his life's work, selecting his favorite poems and augmenting them with fiction, criticism, and a memoir. Autobiographical themes dominate both the prose and poetry, and many pieces celebrate music, particularly the beautiful memoir, "Piano Lessons: Notes on a Provincial Culture." As a poet, Justice has worked in many forms. His poetry succeeds best when he transcends the everyday to hint at the mystery that is part of all our lives--"Sometimes, folding the evening paper up,/ One feels suddenly alone" and when he lets feeling and language intersect: "No, but the sheets were drenched and twisted./They were the very handkerchiefs of grief." Recommended for larger collections. See also Nancy Willard's A Nancy Willard Reader , reviewed on p. 147.--Ed.
- Doris Lynch, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- Doris Lynch, Oakland P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From the Publisher
5 1/2 x 8 1/2 trim. LC 91-50369
