ViVa: ((Reissue)) (Paperback)

by E. E. Cummings (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
ViVa is the third book of Cummings's poetry to be reissued in editions newly offset from the authoritative Complete Poems 1904-1962, edited by George James Firmage. E. E. Cummings, along with Pound, Eliot, and Williams, helped bring about the twentieth-century revolution in literary expression. He is recognized as the author of some of the most beautiful lyric poems written in the English language and also as one of the most inventive American poets of his time. Fresh and candid, by turns earthy, tender, defiant, and romantic, Cummings's poems celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, the need to protest the dehumanizing force of organizations, and the exuberant power of love. The poems in the Complete Poems 1904-1962, and in the individual poetry volumes that are part of it, are the most complete and textually accurate editions of Cummings's work ever issued. The editor has gone back to the poet's original manuscripts to ensure the absolute accuracy of the transcriptions, including the spatial arrangement of the typography, which now conforms as precisely as possible to Cummings's very specific intentions.

About the Author
E. E. Cummings, along with Pound, Eliot, and Williams, helped bring about the twentieth-century revolution in literary expression. He is recognized as the author of some of the most beautiful lyric poems written in the English language and also as one of the most inventive American poets of his time. Fresh and candid, by turns earthy, tender, defiant, and romantic, Cummings's poems celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, the need to protest the dehumanizing force of organizations, and the exuberant power of love.

Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: Liveright (October 17, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087140169X
• ISBN-13: 978-0871401694
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,028,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Somewhere I have Never Travelled,but gladly beyond...., August 11, 2000

By	Victoria Turner (Schaumburg, Il USA) - See all my reviews

While I was not familiar with many of the works of e.e.cummings, I heard a poem used in a scene in the movie"Hannah and Her Sisters". A beautifully touching love poem"Somewhere I have never travelled". It affected me so deeply I had to find out who wrote this piece.I researched it and found it in Viva. This collection by e.e.cummings is so intensely beautiful,complex and challenging,you may think your'e in over your head. It is not for just its lyrical complexity but even the way it is typed it is a puzzle worthy to piece together and watch its beauty unfold in your hands.If you love poetry on levels beyond the rhyme this is the reason to get Viva. Viva la difference!Exquisitely done.

4.0 out of 5 stars A stimulating volume from a sculptor of words, July 3, 2003

By	Michael J. Mazza (Pittsburgh, PA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

"ViVa," by E.E. Cummings, is a collection of 70 poems numbered with Roman numerals. The afterword by George James Firmage notes that an earlier edition of the book (one riddled with errors) was published back in 1931.

"ViVa" shows Cummings to be one of the most distinctive and inventive poets in the English language. He uses a lot of eye-catching, and apparently made-up, words: "fasterishly," "infrafairy," "uneyes," "firsting," "nonglance," etc. In many of his poems he experiments with punctuation, word structure, word order, and capitalization in startling ways--he's like a sculptor playfully molding the English language into strange new shapes.

But I must admit that I found some of his poems too experimental--to the point of incomprehensibility. Still, even his most impenetrable poems are stimulating in odd ways. Many poems imitate people's speech; some raise theological questions. There is a sadness to much of the book in the form of poems that touch on the despair, loneliness, and dislocation of modern life. But these are balanced by some truly striking and beautiful love poems. There is also a satirical element present in the book.

When Cummings' experiments succeed, he really dazzles; consider poem XXXVIII, where the words seem to really dance and crackle across the page. His imagery at its best is fresh and invigorating. "ViVa" is not an easy read, but it's a remarkable work from a true original.