Oblivion: On Writers & Writing [Paperback]

Donald Justice (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998

In OBLIVION, Donald Justice focuses his critical attention on 20th century literary matters. Engaging the battles of present trends and obsessions, he subtly explores the nature of obscurity, sincerity, style, memory, meter, free-verse, and music. OBLIVION closes with generous excerpts from Justice's own notebooks, providing a rare glimpse into the creative process of a writer whom many critics consider a central conscience of the late 20th century.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The recipient of several major awards (Bollingen, Pulitzer) and fellowships (Lannon etc.), poet Justice is highly regarded for his mastery of formal verse and as a mentor to younger poets. Much of the pleasure of these essays, dating from 1954 to the late 1990s, lies in their illumination of small but just truths that refuse to take anything for granted. His observations are often surprising but apt, as when he notes that "the music of music and the music of poetry are entirely different.... [T]he music of poetry must be understood as no more than a metaphor struck off in the heat of wishful thought." His chief concern is not so much what poems mean as how they are made. Justice knows that poetry is artifice: poems do not spring into being through magic but are constructed through hard, loving effort. In the title essay he emphasizes that dedication to art does not necessarily bring public success or private satisfaction; he writes touchingly about Weldon Kees, Henri Coulette and Robert Boardman Vaughn, three poets whose careers and reputations fell into oblivion but whom Justice regards as "true artists nonetheless." The degrees of oblivion, he writes, to which certain writers "have been consigned are no more proportionate to the real value of their work than the fame of some others is to the value of theirs." Some of the writing feels random and occasional; not all of these pieces are as fully fleshed out as one might wish. That said, it is valuable to have the mature judgments of this poet's poet.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

...one of our most lucid and visible poets ... [an] intelligent and highly intelligible work. -- The New York Times Book Review, Emily Barton

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Story Line Press (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188526660X
• ISBN-13: 978-1885266606
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,436,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars HOLD BACK THE NIGHT, August 7, 2001

By 

Donald A. Newlove (Greenwich Village) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oblivion: On Writers & Writing (Paperback)

OBLIVION rates five stars for the title essay alone. No, it's not about the fall of Valhalla, although oblivion is a fit battle for Titans, before they too are swallowed up. Rather, it memorializes wonderful poets and writers who have had only glancing recognition and, should they go on writing after a crucial understanding of what they can expect from their works, still find in themselves the joy of pages that shine with blood and a supernal sense of selfworth.