A Little White Shadow [Paperback]

Mary Ruefle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Selectively painting over much of a forgotten nineteenth-century book, Ruefle’s ninth publication brings new meaning to an old story. What remains visible is delicate poetry: artfully rendered, haunted by its former self, yet completely new. A high-quality replica of the original aged, delicate book in which Ruefle “erased” the text, this book will appeal to fans of poetry as well as visual art.

Mary Ruefle’s poems and prose have appeared in Best American Poetry and The Next American Essay. Her many awards include a Guggenheim and an NEA. She is currently teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Alongside her justly known poems, Ruefle (Tristimania, 2003) also crafts what she calls "erasures," found texts from which she has crossed out almost all the words, leaving only a tiny poem's worth per page; the latter make up this book. In this pocket-sized reproduction of a whited-out 19th-century volume, Ruefle etches haiku-like minifables, sideways aphorisms, and hauntingly perplexing koans ("the dead/ borrow so little from/ the past/ as if they were alive") from what must have been an unusual text to begin with (Ruefle borrows the book's original title). As much a statement about the act of reading as the act of writing, this is a strange and lovely work by a singular poet. (May 1)
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About the Author

Mary Ruefle's poems and prose have appeared in Harper's, Best American Poetry, and The Next American Essay. Her many awards include an NEA and a Guggenheim. She is a frequent visiting professor at the University of Iowa, and she lives and teaches in Vermont.

Product Details

• Paperback: 56 pages
• Publisher: Wave Books; 1 edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933517034
• ISBN-13: 978-1933517032
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 4.5 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,038 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful tribute to A HUMUMENT by Tom Phillips?, November 24, 2006

By 

Ben Ani "Ben" (Rhode Island, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Little White Shadow (Paperback)

I see no mention of the great artist, Tom Phillips, whose great work, "A Humument", surely must have been an influence for Mary Ruefle's wonderful "A Little White Shadow".

For such a small volume, and even without Mr. Phillips imaginative artwork, this publication packs in a great amount of emotion and wonder. I hope to send copies to a few dear ones :-)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, very interesting., September 20, 2006

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Little White Shadow (Paperback)

Mary Ruefle, A Little White Shadow (Wave Books, 2006)

I have no idea what possessed Mary Ruefle to take the text of an obscure nineteenth-century book (the author of which I've been trying to uncover ever since reading this, with no success) and turn it into poetry by whiting out most of it, but whatever it was, I like it.

I originally took it as one long piece, but others have suggested it's actually a collection, and it does make more sense that way. What Ruefle does here is to white out most of the words on the page, leaving just enough to give an intelligible image here, an interesting twist of action there. It's all quite exciting from a creative standpoint, as there are obviously any number of texts out there which can be used to the same ends, but Ruefle's eye for what to leave in makes for some extremely interesting reading, as well. I'm quite fond of this. ****

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The poet's eye finds beauty hidden in plain sight, June 11, 2008

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Little White Shadow (Paperback)

It's the sort of thing that makes you say, "Why didn't I think of that?"

But it's so much more than that, as well. Poet Mary Ruefle has created a miniature of mysterious beauty, simply by discovering, or unearthing, haiku-like poems embedded like gems in the text of an old book. Could anyone do this? Perhaps ... but it takes that poet's eye to select so precisely, to white out all but a few words, and transform what had been a fairly straightforward page of prose into these ghostly, dreamlike poems, at once delicate & piercing as a cold needle.

And it's a reminder that art, beauty, and mystery are to be found everywhere -- perhaps especially in the everyday, laid out before us, if we only take the time & effort to look. Highly recommended!