Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cumming's Salvation..., May 6, 2002
Reading Cumming's poetry was never a priority in my school days, except such excerpts as appeared in my far from comprehensive American Lit book. After reading this, I wish I'd paid more attention to this truly gifted writer. The Enormous Room is the story of Cumming's three month incarceration at La Ferte Mace, a squalid French prison camp. Cummings is locked up as accessory to exercise of free speech, his friend B. (William Brown) having written a letter with some pro German sentiments. What Cummings experienced in those three months and the stories of the men and women he met are, despite the straits of the polyglot texture of the book, never other than fascinating. At moments touching (the stories of the Surplice and The Wanderer's family), hilarious (the description of the Man In the Orange Cap is hysterical), and maddening (the smoking of the four les putains), this is a brilliant weft of memorable characters and not a little invective for the slipshod French goverment. Something I noticed. Though the book claims as its primary influence Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, I noticed a similarity with Thoreau's Walden. In both books, there is the idea of self-abnegation breeding liberty and peace of mind. The idea is to shear away all luxuries, all privileges. But Thoreau had one very important luxury to his credit: Free will. Whereas Thoreau chose his isolated and straitened existence near Walden Pond, Cummings' was involuntary. So, if the touchstone of freedom both men share is valid, is not Cummings, by virtue of the unrequested nature of his imprisonment, the freer of the two men? This is a fascinating, thought provoking, ribald and intelligent book. I only regret that the Fighting Sheeney was never given commupance...
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Before he was a poet... ., January 1, 1998
By A Customer
First published in 1922, THE ENORMOUS ROOM, is Edward E. Cummings's remembrance of his six-months stay in a French detention center before World War I. Almost never published, this odd little book details how Cummings and another American,working as volunteer ambulance-drivers, were picked up on suspicion of treason and then held in a kind of limbo, in "The Enormous Room," with other unfortunates whose only crime was not being French, and were hence also considered traitors. The almost six months spent imprisoned under horrendous conditions left indelible memories of the immigrants Cummings met there, and also shaped his distrust for all in authority. The book may be slighly difficult for readers without a knowledge of a bit of French, but the delighful and swarmy character-descriptions that Cummings draws, should more than compensate for this. This book is eccentric, exquisitely written, and a true treat for any Cummings admirer who yearns for more insight into his life --before he was a poet, and before he was "e.e."
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must-read for cummings' fans, February 17, 1999
By A Customer
This book gives so much insight into cummings, not to mention it's just a great book. The characters are amazing; he certainly has a way with them. Totally great, and eaiser to read (a.k.a. understand quickly) than most of his poetry! (His other novel, Eimi, is also extememly interesting, but very difficult to read. It's like 200 pages of his wackier poems.) I would say, if you really want to get to know cummings, you have to read this book.
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