"a" [Paperback]

Mr. Louis Zukofsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

Louis Zukofsky's most important poetic work now returns to print in a new softcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I have been reading away at `A' since Doubleday brought out an edition of its first twelve sections... in l967. I have found it alternately and in no special order strange, beautiful, mad, touching, unreadable, readable, elusive, fascinating. Now I have all 800 pages in hand... I see no reason to change my mind--except to say that in sum I respect and am moved by it all... the labor of one quiet, stubborn, possessed man's lifetime. It is a big poem in all senses.... Its place is in the great line of American personal epic begun in Song of Myself and stretching through the Cantos, Paterson, Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction, Maximus, and The Dream Songs. It should be read." -- Joseph Cary, The Nation

"He is a master of the allusive word collage wed to the cadence of music and the rhythms of the sounds themselves." -- The Reader's Review

"The contents page of this extremely useful edition notes that the first section of the poem (there are 24 in all, which number echoes for me significantly the human measure of a day) was written in 1928, when the poet was 24 years old. The last writing is dated 1974 ('A' 23), so that one has the range of 46 years--without question a life's commitment, in all possible respects to what does come and go of a day, and what does stay put--as value, as measure, as possibility.... Zukofsky's art, in this work, is without equal. No poet of our time can so sound the resources of language, so actuate words to become all that they might be thought otherwise to engender" -- Robert Creeley, New York Times

"The most hermetic poem in English, which they will still be elucidating in the 22nd century." -- Hugh Kenner, New York Times

About the Author

Louis Zukofsky was born in New York City in 1904 and lived there nearly all his life. A close friend and younger contemporary of William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, and Ezra Pound, Zukofsky was a poet of ceaseless experiment, as well as a fiction writer, translator, essayist, anthologist, critic, scholar, and teacher. He died in 1978. His Complete Shorter Poetry is also available from Johns Hopkins.

Product Details

• Paperback: 832 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801846684
• ISBN-13: 978-0801846687
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,055,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for everybody, it's true, but..., June 20, 2000

By 

Mark Scroggins (Boca Raton, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: "a" (Paperback)

Zukofsky's "A" isn't for the timid--it's long, after all--and it's not for those who don't want to give their minds and ears a workout--in other words, it's difficult, and doesn't sound like...well, like Robert Pinsky, or Robert Frost. But for readers who are patient enough to let the peerless music of the verse sink in, and who don't demand that poetry give them a prepackaged "message," "A" offers a wonderful range of pleasures. It's a long poem in as many forms as you can imagine, from Shakespearean sonnets, to letter-perfect canzoni, to phonetic translations from the Hebrew. It's a poem that tracks 50 years in the life of its writer and 50 years of American history, from the Depression through the space race. It makes the most wonderful sound of any book in English since Joyce's *Ulysses*.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent, reflective, broad in scope, February 22, 2001

By 

Geoff (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "a" (Paperback)

This poem is incredible.

"A" is a must read for any reader serious about poetry, literary aesthetics, or modern thought. Zukofsky incorporates immense ideas into his work, and keeps the reader challenged. But though the poem is highly cerebral, it's not just a poem for scholars and academicians. It's emotional and beautiful as well as stimulating. Even if you don't have the time or energy to read all of "A", read bits and pieces of it. You will be caught up in the language. You will be amazed. Read it at leisure, study it, or keep it on your bookshelf for years at a time. You will most definitely get something out of it. Readers who like "The Cantos" will most likely enjoy this as well. It is fantastic.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zukofsky Opens Ears and Minds, August 30, 2000

By 

"chax" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: "a" (Paperback)

Not only is this justifiably regarded as one of the most important long poems of the 20th Century, it is one of the most enjoyable of them. People say Zukofsky is difficult, but he's not so difficult if one listens: "The ears have it." Zukofsky says a poem offers pleasure by means of "sight, sound, and intellection." That's one key in to this work. Another is to notice that this is perhaps the first American long poem, at least in its first half or more, that offers a leftist/Marxist perspective. Another is that it lets us see an important Jewish poet finding his place as American and modernist/postmodernist. These are real dramas that can be found in *A.* Another key to reading *A* is to enjoy Zukofsky's intense pleasure in everyday, family life. There are ways in which this great poem is accessible to all readers. Finding one's way in can require patience, but more than anything, it simply requires an act of listening with open ears and mind.