Reviews

Glas, Ironie und Gott by Anne Carson

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motifenjoyer's review against another edition

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4.0

sorry 4 being a normie but The Glass Essay might be my favorite poem <3

justanothersamsmith's review against another edition

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4.0

This was my first exposure to Anne Carson's writing and oh my goodness I was absolutely spoilt with this one. The Glass Essay was spectacular: so beautifully atmospheric and rhythmically crafted. The way she interweaved her then recent break-up with biographies of Emily Brontë, the Canadian moor-landscapes and also her relationship with her mother was inspired and incredibly well pulled-off. I won't lie I was pretty non-plussed about The Truth About God as in my opinion it was nothing special however still marginally interesting. Moving swiftly onwards, I thought TV Men was a really fascinating concept and I'd like to read the revised version of it in Carson's Men In The Off Hours to see how she re-approached the sequence. The Fall Of Rome was probably my favourite section of the book; it was just so witty and fast paced and so intricately observed I just felt completely consumed by it. This particular section really took me back to Rachel Cusk's novel Outline in a way I can't quite delineate but felt very strongly. Finally came Carson's Short Talks and these immediately made me think of Margaret Atwood's short story collection The Tent. Similarly weird and wonderful moments are unpacked in Short Talks like tiny vignettes of thought. To conclude, I can't wait to read more of Anne Carson's work after what can only be described as a fantastic start. An undeniably deserving five star review from me :))

grotesqueanimal's review against another edition

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5.0

XXIX
I grin.
I eat.

Thousand of cuts morning and night,

practicing fierce techniques of horrible war! useless.
Dread masters me.
I do not master dread.

XXX
A stranger is a master of nothing.

Who in a nightmare
can help himself?

courtneyfalling's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This was a reread, and like the first time, I love The Glass Essay. The strange melodrama, the fixation on Wuthering Heights and Emily Brontë's life, the horrifyingly immaculate scenes with the nudes: it's just really well-crafted. The middle poems are good, but not incredibly memorable. I did appreciate rereading "The Gender of Sound" and remembering some of the classical etymologies and histories I had forgotten. (The language around "cervix" is so fascinating?!)

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