The Silence of Men [Paperback]

Richard Newman (Author), Yusef Komunyakaa (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 2006

The Silence of Men confronts and breaks the silence in men's lives surrounding sex, family, power and violence; graphic and intimate, celebratory and heartbreakingly painful, these are the poems of a survivor for whom writing, because it breaks that silence, has been a primary means of survival.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"From Korea to Manhattan, and from the haunted voices still rising from the concentration camps, Richard Jeffrey Newman's The Silence of Men exposes the violence of men toward men, and men toward women, and the tenderness also, the resounding tenderness. His is an unremitting empathy, as uncommon as it is necessary. Such a brave debut." (Robin Behn )

About the Author

RICHARD JEFFREY NEWMAN, an associate professor at Nassau Community College, New York, is an essayist, poet and translator who has been publishing his work since 1988, when the essay "His Sexuality; Her Reproductive Rights" appeared in Changing Men magazine. Since then, his essays, poems, and translations have appeared in a wide range of journals, among them Prairie Schooner and Birmingham Poetry Review. He has given talks and led workshops on writing autobiographically about gender, sex, and sexuality. His translation of selections from Saadi's Gulistan, a thirteenth-century masterpiece, was published by Global Scholarly Publications. The Silence of Men is the first book of his own poetry to be published.

Product Details

• Paperback: 124 pages
• Publisher: Cavankerry (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972304584
• ISBN-13: 978-0972304580
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,387,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Jeffrey Newman, a poet, essayist and translator, is the author of The Silence Of Men (CavanKerry Press, 2006), a book of his own poetry, and two books of translations from classical Persian literature, Selections from Saadi's Gulistan and Selections from Saadi's Bustan (both from Global Scholarly Publications, 2004 and 2006 respectively). He has been publishing his work since 1988, when the essay 'His Sexuality; Her Reproductive Rights' appeared in Changing Men magazine. Since then, his essays and poems have appeared in Salon.com, The American Voice, The Pedestal, Circumference, Prairie Schooner, ACM, Birmingham Poetry Review and other literary journals. His work has been anthologized in Access Literature (Thomson Wadsworth, 2005) and it has been translated into Dutch. He is currently translating selections from the Shahnameh, the Persian national epic, which will also be published by Global Scholarly Publications; and he is collaborating with Professor John Moyne on a new Rumi anthology. Richard Jeffrey Newman sits on the advisory board of The Translation Project and he listed as a speaker with the New York Council for the Humanities. He is an Associate Professor in the English Department at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique exploration, July 26, 2008

By 

unvarnishedtruth (Asheboro, NC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Silence of Men (Paperback)

It is a rare thing to find works by a man willing to explore, and subsequently reveal, all the features that have informed his experience of boyhood-to-manhood, then challenge and question virtually every one of those features, reaffirming some, rejecting others, all in search of a formulation of personal identify that resonates at his core in a way that howls "authentic"--even when it flies in the face of some of the most basic assumptions our culture makes about what it means to be a man. At turns enlightening, heartbreaking, even humorous, a brave work.

5.0 out of 5 stars Debut book of poetry, highly recommended......, September 9, 2006

By 

Laurel Johnson (Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Silence of Men (Paperback)

The Silence of Men is Richard Jeffrey Newman's first book of poetry. The book is beautifully printed and presented by CavanKerry Press, in keeping with the contents. Newman is a man who has learned from and been strengthened by his life experience. Love, family, sex, religion, and violence have all played integral parts in making him the man he is today. Poetically, his words penetrate to the reader's marrow and shine with honesty and emotion.

Richard Jeffrey Newman's work is exceptional. Readers won't have to scratch their heads and guess at his meanings. He expresses human emotions in ways profound, powerful, and poignant. In The Silence of Men, he tries "to give the dream a shape this page will hold." How he gives life to those words taking shape on the page is an enlightening journey.

This book of poetry for mature readers is highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars The power of living memory, July 24, 2006

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English teacher (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silence of Men (Paperback)

I have now read this entire book three times, and it continues to move me. What I appreciate most is Newman's insistence on letting memory and the past lead to reflecting upon and enriching the present. Memory within these poems is an ever-present, ever-changing force, not an obsession or grudge to be chipped away, but a source of richer voice and vision.

The author's persona comes across throughout as one that is willing to live deeply and fully, actively riding and owning the waves of circumstance, reaching for meaning from them. People are very much alive to him--this is not the voice of a solipsist. We see all this in long poems such as "Poem from the Barnes and Noble Cafe" and "Coitus Interruptus" as well as in his intriguing imaginative "story" poems.

The speaker is consistently one who feels the pain of today's violent world, and who views sex as a rich, reflective dialogue that leads to increased humanity. He avoids conventional masculine metaphors for sexuality, instead portraying himself as a tree, as earth. His is also a voice capable of beautiful longing ("Because"), and of a polyamorous acceptance ("Here").

What is not just innovative but admirable about the narrative voice is his relentless determination to face the consequences of his actions, like in "Bill's Story," or to come to terms with his dad's abandoning of him, without regret or recrimination, only melancholy ("After the Funeral"). Ultimately, Newman presents himself as part of a deeply human(e) fellowship of "complex beings / we believe ourselves to be: the people / we need always to come back to" ("The Speed and Weight of Justice").