daximus's review against another edition
5.0
Anne Carson's mastery of poetry is only equaled by her mastery of essays, and the only competitor to either of those is her mastery of the classics. She educates as she entertains, and does something thought by many to be impossible; she writes an essay that is at the same time exactly as enjoyable as it is informative. Her screenplays are as poetic as those of Moliere and Shakespeare, and, in my humble opinion, infinitely more interesting. My heart simply would not remain in my breast upon reading the "Got started" during the monologue of Hephaestus, and the Latin student in me rejoiced upon the dialogue between Marguerite Porete and the church officials.
If I do not speak out of turn, I would think it no exaggeration to say that Anne Carson is quite possibly the best living poet, and among the truest of the neo-classical poets to ever grace this bare black earth with their mastery of the written word. My only wish is that she continue living and writing for as long as possible, for I fear Gaia herself will weep when Ms.Carson's time in this mortal coil has passed, and we are again left to the dark scribbles and ramblings of all those who unjustly claim the title "poet".
If I do not speak out of turn, I would think it no exaggeration to say that Anne Carson is quite possibly the best living poet, and among the truest of the neo-classical poets to ever grace this bare black earth with their mastery of the written word. My only wish is that she continue living and writing for as long as possible, for I fear Gaia herself will weep when Ms.Carson's time in this mortal coil has passed, and we are again left to the dark scribbles and ramblings of all those who unjustly claim the title "poet".
casparb's review against another edition
what an artist this lady is. A cornucopian book !! More please
(has somebody investigated the correspondences between Anne and Sharon Olds because there is a stage where this ceases to be coincidence. Coven?)
(has somebody investigated the correspondences between Anne and Sharon Olds because there is a stage where this ceases to be coincidence. Coven?)
wcook's review against another edition
4.0
“The writer’s dream of distance becomes an epithet of God”
4.5. WOAH!! I am pretty darn speechless. I suspect, with some returning, this may bump up to a five. I am absolutely blown away by this text as a piece of poetry, a theory on cinematography and, finally, importantly, it's Attention given to Theology. This text came to me at the PERFECT TIME! Thank you so much Kate! Rah Scream!
I was tempted to call what takes place in this text a 'dialectic'. This would be misleading. "Dialectic is a mode reasoning and an application of the individual self." But a soul, at one with God, in the act of Decreation, is not an individual self - Carson notes this in her contemplations regarding Weil's complicated relationship with Philosophy.
From its title Carson makes it clear this text is building up to the arrival of Weil - she appears only in the final 60 or so pages of this text, but her presence haunts it. Through her writings on Sleep and The Sublime earlier on in this collection, Carson makes it clear they they are important groundworks in contemplating Weil and the act Weil named "Decreation". As in sleep you must approach Weilian writing from the other side. As for Weil's God? He is Sublime. Terror and Beauty. No. Neither of those. Both. A razors edge. A Lion at the edge of The Only Stream.
I enjoy the entirety of this text, but the absolute highlight is the essay on Sappho, Marguerite Porete and Simone Weil, using the three women in juxtaposition to reach a conclusion regarding what Weil means when she says "God can only be present in creation under the form of God’s absence” .
I also have a lot of love for the Opera Carson writes - all three parts, each dedicated to one of the Three Women are distinct and really magical. I also appreciate that Carson in her Weilian Opera gives a rather humorous account of the New Years Eve Trotsky spent with the Weil family, and the famous argument between Weil and Trotsky which lead to Trotsky’s wife exclaiming “The kid is holding her own with Trotsky!” - this humor is juxtaposed with Weil’s solemnity. Trotsky is not a question. Grace is a question. Grace can only enter where there is a void to receive it.
To Carson, Weil is an all too real figure. Weil's struggle with anorexia is certainly present (perhaps, another comparison with Louise Glück). So too is her strange relationship with her parents. Weil as a figure is painful. I understand this and grow more and more aware of it as I come to read more of her.
“Saintliness is an eruption of the absolute into ordinary history and we resent that."
4.5. WOAH!! I am pretty darn speechless. I suspect, with some returning, this may bump up to a five. I am absolutely blown away by this text as a piece of poetry, a theory on cinematography and, finally, importantly, it's Attention given to Theology. This text came to me at the PERFECT TIME! Thank you so much Kate! Rah Scream!
I was tempted to call what takes place in this text a 'dialectic'. This would be misleading. "Dialectic is a mode reasoning and an application of the individual self." But a soul, at one with God, in the act of Decreation, is not an individual self - Carson notes this in her contemplations regarding Weil's complicated relationship with Philosophy.
From its title Carson makes it clear this text is building up to the arrival of Weil - she appears only in the final 60 or so pages of this text, but her presence haunts it. Through her writings on Sleep and The Sublime earlier on in this collection, Carson makes it clear they they are important groundworks in contemplating Weil and the act Weil named "Decreation". As in sleep you must approach Weilian writing from the other side. As for Weil's God? He is Sublime. Terror and Beauty. No. Neither of those. Both. A razors edge. A Lion at the edge of The Only Stream.
I enjoy the entirety of this text, but the absolute highlight is the essay on Sappho, Marguerite Porete and Simone Weil, using the three women in juxtaposition to reach a conclusion regarding what Weil means when she says "God can only be present in creation under the form of God’s absence” .
I also have a lot of love for the Opera Carson writes - all three parts, each dedicated to one of the Three Women are distinct and really magical. I also appreciate that Carson in her Weilian Opera gives a rather humorous account of the New Years Eve Trotsky spent with the Weil family, and the famous argument between Weil and Trotsky which lead to Trotsky’s wife exclaiming “The kid is holding her own with Trotsky!” - this humor is juxtaposed with Weil’s solemnity. Trotsky is not a question. Grace is a question. Grace can only enter where there is a void to receive it.
To Carson, Weil is an all too real figure. Weil's struggle with anorexia is certainly present (perhaps, another comparison with Louise Glück). So too is her strange relationship with her parents. Weil as a figure is painful. I understand this and grow more and more aware of it as I come to read more of her.
“Saintliness is an eruption of the absolute into ordinary history and we resent that."
cobydillon14's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0
aleakim's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
nicolleschumacher's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This is definitely a collection that needs to be reread to understand and appreciate fully but from what I did gather, I really enjoyed. I especially loved the 3-part essay on Sappho, Marguerite Porete and Simone Weil. This book is something I imagine myself looking back on to reflect on; the idea of „undoing the creature in you“ and by doing that diving into yourself.
readingcorvid's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
This was the most Anne Carson book of poetry I could have ever imagined. I will come right out and say that she is much better at literary analysis than at poetry, but it feels as if she is mildly aware of this. At the very least, she plays to her strengths in this book. The thematic division through essays was very fitting, and manages to put her work in the context of its sources of inspiration in a very gentle and original way. The section that gives the book its name was my absolute favourite, and it even made me sort of accept the existence of sample poems. Carson does incredibly insightful stuff with samples, which I begrudgingly started to see as a part of the cohesive story she was telling.
Here are a few of my favourite sections of the book:
Here are a few of my favourite sections of the book:
Spoiler
- The poem "Lines"
- The essay about sleep, especially her linking it with the distortion of space and time
- The essay written from the perspective of an inmate at an asylum
- Opening Gun Dialogue and Tender Guns, the latter for its impeccable parallel with ancient Greek mythology and its superb rendition of what it is to be merciless and armed
- H&A screenplay, mainly because I remembered that Abelard was a philosopher with a very specific conception of universals quite late and it made me appreciate the whole thing a lot more - scene two was heart-wrenching
- Decreation, particularly the 4th essay, the play about Hephaistos and Fight Cherries