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manic_bibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read to say the least. My first (actual) dive into the world of Carson and her poetry, written in a disjointed and almost experimental style I've come to recognize is her trademark uniqueness, and while not amazed, I am impressed. What I like best about Anne isn't her grasp of the subject she's writing about, honestly I don't think she so much as scrapes the surface in that regard in this book, rather it's her talent with diction, with bending language back on itself and around in circles or, if it suits her desires, to be as cutthroat as possible with a few choice units. That I think is what makes her so fascinating to read, even when she fills 90% of the pages with nonsensical keysmashing. May not be her best work, but for the gems sprinkled between the prose and for the experience itself, I'd recommend Men to be read at least once.
lillywing's review against another edition
My favorites were:
- Ordinary Time
- Sumptuous Destitution
- A Station
- Catullus: Carmina
- TV Men: Lazarus
- Irony Is Not Enough: Essay on My Life as Catherine Deneuve (2nd Draft)
- Ordinary Time
- Sumptuous Destitution
- A Station
- Catullus: Carmina
- TV Men: Lazarus
- Irony Is Not Enough: Essay on My Life as Catherine Deneuve (2nd Draft)
rorienew's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
casparb's review against another edition
More Anne and this is a collection I ride a fine line with because I feel some of her best ideas are in here and they are, as she delivers, phenomenal. Particular love for Artaud (which contains a pastiche of Derrida's Glas ???? Hello ????) Akhmatova Hokusai Emily Dickinson and especially Tolstoy who I do believe more poets in English should pay attention to as an individual as a biography so thanks anne for being all casually groundbreaking as per.
There's a sense in this one, more than I've encountered before from her, of the seminar. At times one feels she's in 'teaching mode' and I appreciate that! I'm not sure where I sit with the prose poem generally so I do bow in deference when I struggle to find a reliable sense of these As Part of the collection as a whole - which does relate to my broader feeling here that can in a way be summed up as I'm Not Sure What This Collection Goes Toward in that I feel Glass and God or Beauty are kind of miracles of poetic focus insofar as being disparate but drawing together into a polymathic whole. Probably Decreation is the best example of that I've encountered. Perhaps I'm just asking if it all hangs together of necessity?
Ho hum a lovely piece anyway and I'm glad I took the time for it. AC and dirt she mentions in the intro to her Antigone I seem to remember so, not to sound a broken record, it's curious to me she never seems to mention Kristeva when it does seem that she's the obvious source of that work. Interested in finding more on that
There's a sense in this one, more than I've encountered before from her, of the seminar. At times one feels she's in 'teaching mode' and I appreciate that! I'm not sure where I sit with the prose poem generally so I do bow in deference when I struggle to find a reliable sense of these As Part of the collection as a whole - which does relate to my broader feeling here that can in a way be summed up as I'm Not Sure What This Collection Goes Toward in that I feel Glass and God or Beauty are kind of miracles of poetic focus insofar as being disparate but drawing together into a polymathic whole. Probably Decreation is the best example of that I've encountered. Perhaps I'm just asking if it all hangs together of necessity?
Ho hum a lovely piece anyway and I'm glad I took the time for it. AC and dirt she mentions in the intro to her Antigone I seem to remember so, not to sound a broken record, it's curious to me she never seems to mention Kristeva when it does seem that she's the obvious source of that work. Interested in finding more on that
thestoryofaz's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
I am not half as intelligent as I needed to be to have thoroughly comprehended this equally mind- and genre-bending masterpiece; however, its beauty and erudition are far from lost on me. Anne Carson, you are a genius.