Poetry. "Working in the vivid and revivifying borderlands of such American adventures as Paul Metcalf's Genoa and Ed Dorn's Gunslinger, THE SUBURBAN ECSTASTIES propounds a syllabic heroism, one in which even the gentlest, most lyric proposals set forth towards ecstasy. These pages glow with immediate mastery"--Donald Revell.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
Working in the vivid and revivifying borderlands of such American adventures as Paul Metcalf's Genoa and Ed Dorn's Gunslinger, The Suburban Ecstasies propounds a syllabic heroism, one in which even the gentlest, most lyric proposals set forth towards ecstasy. These pages glow with immediate mastery. -- Donald Revell, author of A Thief of Strings
Seth Abramson's first book is enough to make Stephen Dedalus dizzy, being somehow lyric, epic, and dramatic all at the same time. He has a fine ear and a keen eye. He has mastered a prosody that both drives his narrative I read the book at a single sitting because I couldn't stop reading once I had started and that also rings the changes on repeating themes or motifs. It is very difficult to write a book-length poem, but Abramson makes it seem easy. He has a compelling story to tell, both down to earth and fantastical. I would guess it's equal parts autobiography and invention. He calls it a monomyth, and it's that too. First books aren't meant to have this kind of authority. -- John Matthias, Poetry Editor, Notre Dame Review
Seth Abramson's first book is enough to make Stephen Dedalus dizzy, being somehow lyric, epic, and dramatic all at the same time. He has a fine ear and a keen eye. He has mastered a prosody that both drives his narrative I read the book at a single sitting because I couldn't stop reading once I had started and that also rings the changes on repeating themes or motifs. It is very difficult to write a book-length poem, but Abramson makes it seem easy. He has a compelling story to tell, both down to earth and fantastical. I would guess it's equal parts autobiography and invention. He calls it a monomyth, and it's that too. First books aren't meant to have this kind of authority. -- John Matthias, Poetry Editor, Notre Dame Review
About the Author
Seth Abramson was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1976. A contributing author to The Creative Writing MFA Handbook (Continuum Books) and a former public defender, his poems have appeared in Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Best New Poets 2008, New American Writing, Boston Review, Colorado Review, and elsewhere.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Seth Abramson is the author of two collections of poetry, Northerners (Western Michigan University Press, 2011), winner of the 2010 Green Rose Prize from New Issues Poetry & Prose, and The Suburban Ecstasies (Ghost Road Press, 2009). He is also the co-author of the third edition of The Creative Writing MFA Handbook (Continuum, 2012). In 2008 he was awarded the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize by Poetry, and his poems have appeared in such magazines and anthologies as Best New Poets 2008, Poetry, American Poetry Review, New American Writing, Boston Review, Colorado Review, and New York Quarterly. A regular contributor to Poets & Writers magazine and The Huffington Post, his essays on poetry, politics, and higher education have been cited online by The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The Economist, The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, The Poetry Foundation, and elsewhere. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and after six years working as a public defender in New Hampshire is now a doctoral candidate in English Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Make that six stars, and you've got a deal.,
By
This review is from: The Suburban Ecstasies (Hardcover)
I've rarely been so profoundly gratified while reading a volume of contemporary poetry. The blurbs, for a change, are spot on. The other reviewers work in a circle toward an unmistakable center. What dazzles me here is not only the command of craft, but also the appreciation of the creation of book-length poem through manipulation of layers of narrative in a wide variety of focal lengths--close up, long shot, two shot, even (Maori?) mythology. One reader says he couldn't put the book down until he read it through, then started again. My experience was reading and re-reading every page in a feast that took two weeks for me to complete. As a poet, I read thousands of poems every year. I consider it my responsibility to read widely, reflectively, critically. The Suburban Ecstasies is the sort of wonderful event I'm looking for.
7 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Ectasian Suburbies,
By A. E. Burtlebe (Cedar Rapids, IA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Suburban Ecstasies (Hardcover)
I think a small boy might like this book. Or a man. Or a woman. Or a girl. This book contains the wisdom of the desert Druids, and the dessert Monks. Secrets passed on and on through the eons and then reconfigured into verse by a future poet laureate. I was going to compare this to the Anatomy of Melancholy, Emperor of the Air, and Angels and Demons, but I see other reviewers of this book already have. That's fine: They found that ground to plow first, and they are fully entitled to it.
I gave this four stars because it's not as good as Listen to the Warm by Rod McKuen. Few poetry books are that good. MY RATINGS: 5--LISTEN TO THE WARM -- THE classic, as I said. 4--SUBURBAN ECSTASIES & A KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR. 3--The MOLE CYCLE--JOHN BERRYMAN 2--SILENCES BREAK--MAMIE EISENHOWER 1--AARDVARKS AND GUPPIES--Jonathan Franzen This is only contemporary poetry. If the classics were included, #5 would be HOMER'S ORACLES, then #4 would be LISTEN TO THE WARM. The rest follow in the order given above. Jonathan Franzen's early poetic work drops off the chart, but that's okay, it's not very good.
2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Myth and Magic take the form of verse,
By
This review is from: The Suburban Ecstasies (Hardcover)
I've always loved stories that explored the themes of magic realism, mythology, and a taste of bygone cultures. They carried the parchment color of an era over, the hint of mystery.
All of these themes so dear to my sensibilities have been created in this volume of poetry with a flavor so fresh that it left my dizzy. Anyone who looks at the everyday images around them and believes there is something beyond what they see, something deeper perhaps, must pick this book up.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
