Ignatz (Stahlecker Selections) [Paperback]

Monica Youn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

George Herriman drew the comic strip Krazy Kat, which was published across America, between 1913 and 1944. It followed the antics of the titular cat, who is madly in love with Ignatz Mouse, who would rather attack Krazy with a brick than return the feeling. The strip serves as the inspiration and jumping off point for this second book by Youn (Barter), though intimate familiarity with the strip is hardly necessary to enjoy these poems. Unrequited desire is the theme. Oh Ignatz won't you play me/ like a filigree flute? asks one of four poems titled Untitled (Krazy's Song). Ignatz becomes an open-ended figure for the inaccessible beloved, a kind of muse that's always out of reach. In wiry verse, prose poems, sharp, jagged stanzas, and even lines that mimic the movement of a tetherball, Youn traces the many incarnations of desire: the way water is always rushing between a ferry// and its dock in that ever-present gap. In the stunning X as a Function of the Distance from Ignatz, desire is measured in feet: (he is forty feet/ away) the stiff wind/ palpably stripping// his scent from her hair. Not only has Youn created a thrilling book of poems but also opened new avenues for ekphrastic poetry. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"In Monica Youn's stunningly imaginative series Ignatz, George Herriman's comic-strip villainous mouse, Ignatz, is demoused and, with inexhaustible invention, transformed into an object of passion--not necessarily Krazy Kat's passion, this time, but definitely crazy. Here, in fact, Ignatz is less an object than a figure of life's heartbreakingly attractive, elusively multiple possibilities... Spare, choice, witty, daring, musical, itself never tiring, Youn's style is more than equal to both the romanticism and the grimness." (Cal Bedient )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 84 pages
• Publisher: Four Way (March 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193553601X
• ISBN-13: 978-1935536017
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,845 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

5.0 out of 5 stars Luminous work, August 19, 2011

By 

Shagrug - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ignatz (Stahlecker Selections) (Paperback)

This book is stunning. So much power packed into such short, small-on-the-page poems. Ignatz and Krazy Kat are about love (loving in spite of everything) and this book adds a few more chapters to their (and love's) story. Youn is a fantastically precise writer and these poems are knockout.

5.0 out of 5 stars Longing, desire, and flying bricks, August 9, 2011

By 

J. Bennett "A Geeky and Bookish Mom" (Belmont, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ignatz (Stahlecker Selections) (Paperback)

Monica Youn is not an easy poet to unpack. Her terse, demanding poems can require repeated readings (ideally aloud) to fully grasp. That being said, the work is well rewarded. No analogy is superfluous, no allusion misplaced, and her cynical-yet-still-romantic grasp of human nature is like a pinch in the arm--playful and yet painful.

5.0 out of 5 stars Herriman would be proud, August 4, 2011

By 

gianduio (Brooklyn) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ignatz (Stahlecker Selections) (Paperback)

Gorgeous poetry. It's innovative and wry, and not only does Youn use the classic and amazing Krazy Kat comic strip as inspiration ('nuf said), she creates a world of love and desire that is worked out with such a thrilling mastery of the language. Loved it!