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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Taking its title from the author's Library of Congress number, the poems collected here resound with smugness. Slavitt (Epic and Epigram, Louisiana State Univ., 1997) takes refuge in form, albeit in unusual (and sometimes sloppy) patterns; as he says in "The Exigency of Rhyme," "It distracts the mind to allow/ for an openness, somehow/ holding a thought but not/ being held by it or caught." His dominant theme, the presence of the Almighty in a profane contemporary landscape, quickly becomes repetitive. Slavitt's secondary theme is history, evidenced by a long, inane sequence linking warmongers with deserts. A similar blending of past and present works far better in "Reading Pindar," a whimsical piece based on a thorough reading of Pindar's texts. This is book number 60 for the noted poet, essayist, and translator, and for that alone he deserves our admiration and respect. Such voluminous output does not, however, provide the emotional intensity many poetry readers prefer. Recommended for academic libraries with an interest in Slavitt's other work.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Poetically, Slavitt is on a roll, following The Gift (1996), his lively verse biography of Mozart's librettist da Ponte, with incandescent translations of Sixty-one Psalms of David (1996), the Renaissance humor and satire of Epic and Epigram , and now a set of original and translated poems whose title is the basic LC classification number for his poetry. Satire and wit are the dominant modes here, reflecting the wry worldliness Slavitt may have absorbed from all the urbane Romans he has translated. Yet like many a classical Latin author, Slavitt deeply respects love (see "Feet: An Anniversary Nonet," for his wife), God (as in "Smart Remarks," in which epigrams become prayers), and home (thus, "Northern Renaissance" apologizes for those great provincials, Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer). Historical and legendary figures--Helen of Troy, the Comte de Nesselrode, James V. Forrestal--are often Slavitt's subjects, reminding us that one of literature's crucial functions is as a kind of transcendent gossip about everyone who ever was. A most rewarding, most literate collection. Ray Olson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Taking its title from the author's Library of Congress number, the poems collected here resound with smugness. Slavitt (Epic and Epigram, Louisiana State Univ., 1997) takes refuge in form, albeit in unusual (and sometimes sloppy) patterns; as he says in "The Exigency of Rhyme," "It distracts the mind to allow/ for an openness, somehow/ holding a thought but not/ being held by it or caught." His dominant theme, the presence of the Almighty in a profane contemporary landscape, quickly becomes repetitive. Slavitt's secondary theme is history, evidenced by a long, inane sequence linking warmongers with deserts. A similar blending of past and present works far better in "Reading Pindar," a whimsical piece based on a thorough reading of Pindar's texts. This is book number 60 for the noted poet, essayist, and translator, and for that alone he deserves our admiration and respect. Such voluminous output does not, however, provide the emotional intensity many poetry readers prefer. Recommended for academic libraries with an interest in Slavitt's other work.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Poetically, Slavitt is on a roll, following The Gift (1996), his lively verse biography of Mozart's librettist da Ponte, with incandescent translations of Sixty-one Psalms of David (1996), the Renaissance humor and satire of Epic and Epigram , and now a set of original and translated poems whose title is the basic LC classification number for his poetry. Satire and wit are the dominant modes here, reflecting the wry worldliness Slavitt may have absorbed from all the urbane Romans he has translated. Yet like many a classical Latin author, Slavitt deeply respects love (see "Feet: An Anniversary Nonet," for his wife), God (as in "Smart Remarks," in which epigrams become prayers), and home (thus, "Northern Renaissance" apologizes for those great provincials, Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer). Historical and legendary figures--Helen of Troy, the Comte de Nesselrode, James V. Forrestal--are often Slavitt's subjects, reminding us that one of literature's crucial functions is as a kind of transcendent gossip about everyone who ever was. A most rewarding, most literate collection. Ray Olson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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