7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
most important book of poetry in a decade, November 3, 2004
This review is from: The Lichtenberg Figures (Hayden Carruth Award for New and Emerging Poets) (Paperback)
In the 1998 Hal Hartley movie Henry Fool a perverted garbageman writes a poem that becomes the "best selling poem of all time," eventually earning him the Nobel Prize. Ben Lerner is not a garbageman, but he holds a degree in Political Theory from Brown University, which is close enough to the script that he ought to be in line for recognition by the Swedish Academy. Lichtenberg is a sonnet sequence chloroformed by the lies and swindles of the English language circa 2004. I adore this book. I adorate it.
Check out some of its lines:
What am I the antecedent of?
When I shave I feel like a Russian.
When I drink I'm the last Jew in Kansas.
I sit in my hammock and whittle my rebus.
I feel disease spread through me like a theaory.
I take a sip from Death's black daiquiri.
...
O slender spadix projecting from a narrow spathe,
you are thinner than spaghetti but not as thin as vermicelli.
You are the first and last indigenous Nintendo.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Go Figure, October 7, 2004
This review is from: The Lichtenberg Figures (Hayden Carruth Award for New and Emerging Poets) (Paperback)
While Lerner's work has much in common with L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E writing--an interest in the materiality of language, in postmodern theory, in visual art, and so on--it also has the discursive precision of a more traditional poet--Auden, for example. The Lichtenberg Figures is one of those rare books in which beautiful and playful linguistic surfaces coexist with moments of sincerity.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
splendid, September 15, 2004
This review is from: The Lichtenberg Figures (Hayden Carruth Award for New and Emerging Poets) (Paperback)
Ben Lerner has written a book both timely and timeless: it's political and yet deeply versed in various literary traditions. It's beautiful, but mean. Mean, but hopeful. Loving, but stern. This is a major work.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
