{"product_id":"one-big-self-by-cd-wright-9781556592584","title":"One Big Self","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"For a long while now, C. D. Wright has been writing some of the greatest poetry-cum-prose you can find in American literature. \u003ci\u003eOne Big Self\u003c\/i\u003e does to the contemporary prison-industrial complex what James Agee did to poverty - it reacts passionately and lyrically (and idiosyncratically) to a sociopolitical abomination. This book, while angry and sorrowful and bewildered, has humour, constant levity and candour, and countless moments of incredible beauty.\" - Dave Eggers, \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\"Wright has found a way to wed fragments of an iconic America to a luminously strange idiom, eerie as a tin whistle, which she uses to evoke the haunted quality of our carnal existence.\" - \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eInspired by numerous visits inside Louisiana state prisons—where MacArthur Fellow C.D. Wright served as a \"factotum\" for a portrait photographer—\u003ci\u003eOne Big Self\u003c\/i\u003e bears witness to incarcerated men and women and speaks to the psychic toll of protracted time passed in constricted space. It is a riveting mosaic of distinct voices, epistolary pieces, elements from a moralistic board game, road signage, prison data, inmate correspondence, and \"counts\" of things—from baby's teeth to chigger bites:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCount your folding money\u003cbr\u003e\nCount the times you said you wouldn't go back\u003cbr\u003e\nCount your debts\u003cbr\u003e\nCount the roaches when the light comes on\u003cbr\u003e\nCount your kids after the housefire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eOne Big Self\u003c\/i\u003e—originally published as a large-format limited edition that featured photographs and text—was selected by \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Village Voice\u003c\/i\u003e as a notable book of the year. This edition features the poem exclusively.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eC.D. Wright\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of ten books of poetry, including several collaborations with photographer Deborah Luster. She is a professor at Brown University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47616390988012,"sku":"9781556592584","price":44.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781556592584-one-big-self.jpg?v=1778453651","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/one-big-self-by-cd-wright-9781556592584","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}