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Driven to Abstraction

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( 64 ratings, 2 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Driven to Abstraction, Rosmarie Waldrop's sixth poetry collection with New Directions, explores themes from voyages of discovery and the second Iraq war to geometry, memory, and the music of John Cage. The book is divided into two parts: "Sway-Backed Powerlines," featuring five sequences of prose poems, and the title sequence, which examines the Western cultural shift toward abstractionโ€”sparked by innovations like zero in arithmetic and the vanishing point in perspective. Against the backdrop of ongoing wars, Waldrop's work grapples with the tension between abstraction and concrete reality.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3399
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This collection will appeal to readers interested in contemporary poetry that intertwines cultural critique, history, and abstract concepts, especially those who appreciate innovative formal styles and profound thematic depth.

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A new poetry collection of startling beauty and thought by a great American poet.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Even in a state of geometrical grace we cannot see time as it is, only as it passes. So the river shows us while softly disfiguring our waterlogged bodies on the way to vast projects of war. - Rosmarie Waldrop

Driven to Abstraction is Rosmarie Waldrop's sixth collection of poetry with New Directions. The first of its two sections, "Sway-Backed Powerlines," consists of five sequences of prose poems whose subject matter ranges from voyages of discovery and the second Iraq war to geometry, memory, and the music of John Cage.

Part two, the title sequence, investigates the tendency to abstraction in our lives which, in the West, began with the Renaissance introduction of zero into arithmetic, the vanishing point into perspective, and imaginary money in economics.

Driven by the tension between abstraction and the concrete, and written in the shadow of ongoing wars, these poems are among Waldrop's most engaging and thrilling works to date, the writing of a master poet at the height of her creative powers.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics hail Waldrop as "one of the leading voices in contemporary American poetry" (Boston Review) and a "national treasure" (The Providence Journal). Her mastery is highlighted by No: A Journal of the Arts noting her skill as "one of America's finest formalists," with the ability to blend direct narrative, pointed humour, and profound pathos within a unique syntactic style.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780811218795

Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 30 November 2010

Country: United States

Imprint: New Directions Publishing Corporation

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 13.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 205g

Pages: 144

About the Author

Rosmarie Waldrop was born in Germany and has lived in the United States since 1958. The author and translator of dozens of books of poetry, fiction, and criticism, she is the co-founder and co- publisher of Burning Deck Press. Waldrop's many honors include being named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, fellowships from the NEA, the Fund for Poetry, and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award. In 2006 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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