Then, Suddenly (Pitt Poetry Series) - Hardcover

A determined, smart-alecky poet eyes her reader constantly through this cranky, quirky, third collection, sizing us up . . . she nevertheless varies her lines and her forms adroitly; piles on gorgeous images [and] celebrates masters and mentors. "Publishers Weekly"" There is some Eliot here, some Stein. Emanuel carries self-consciousness to the shrieking edgeand almost falls in. Well, she does fall in. She is a master of the negative, but she doesn t sigh in boredom; she yells in pain. Her vision is original; so is her language. A terrific book! Gerald Stern" The trajectory of Lynn Emanuel s dazzling career has been in the direction of self-consciousness; "Then, Suddenly" questions even further the relationship between writer and reader: a tango, a coupling, a gamble in which the author seems to hold all the cards. But not so fast, say the dead, who confound and complicate her intent; Not so fast, says time. Or faster, haunting these sophisticated, deeply knowing poems into troubled life. Mark Doty" Lynn Emanuel s poems have a rare power: they connect to the world through estrangement. Here is a restless, seeking intelligence, finding itself in beautiful language that makes the reader feel at home in sounds and cadences and figures, even while the homelessness of each of the poet s perceptions adds to the poem s force. This is a moving, challenging book. Eavan Boland" The poems in "Then, Suddenly " require a reader s willingness to connect the dots of voice and story, and to watch oneself connect the dots, but Emanuel makes the willingness surprisingly easy to give. She may eschew feeling, but in this she is somewhat ingenuous, rewarding her reader s attentions throughout with vivid, indeed moving metaphors. "--Boston Review"" Lynn Emanuel s agile poems in "Then Suddenly" are often about the construction of self in language, and, indeed, the act of writing poetry itself. Thier sustained reflexivity, verbal inventiveness and associative wittiness connect her work to the New York School of John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch, and through them, to the great Modernist precursor, Gertrude Stein. "--Women's Review of Books"" "A determined, smart-alecky poet eyes her reader constantly through this cranky, quirky, third collection, sizing us up . . . she nevertheless varies her lines and her forms adroitly; piles on gorgeous images [and] celebrates masters and mentors." --"Publishers Weekly" "There is some Eliot here, some Stein. Emanuel carries self-consciousness to the shrieking edge--and almost falls in. Well, she does fall in. She is a master of the negative, but she doesn't sigh in boredom; she yells in pain. Her vision is original; so is her language. A terrific book!" --Gerald Stern "The trajectory of Lynn Emanuel's dazzling career has been in the direction of self-consciousness; "Then, Suddenly--" questions even further the relationship between writer and reader: a tango, a coupling, a gamble in which the author seems to hold all the cards. But not so fast, say the dead, who confound and complicate her intent; Not so fast, says time. Or faster, haunting these sophisticated, deeply knowing poems into troubled life." --Mark Doty "Lynn Emanuel's poems have a rare power: they connect to the world through estrangement. Here is a restless, seeking intelligence, finding itself in beautiful language that makes the reader feel at home in sounds and cadences and figures, even while the homelessness of each of the poet's perceptions adds to the poem's force. This is a moving, challenging book." --Eavan Boland "The poems in "Then, Suddenly--" require a reader's willingness to connect the dots of voice and story, and to watch oneself connect the dots, but Emanuel makes the willingness surprisingly easy to give. She may eschew feeling, but in this she is somewhat ingenuous, rewarding her reader's attentions throughout with vivid, indeed "moving" metaphors.""--Boston Review" "Lynn Emanuel's agile poems in "Then Suddenly"-- are often about the construction of self in language, and, indeed, the act of writing poetry itself. Thier sustained reflexivity, verbal inventiveness and associative wittiness connect her work to the New York School of John Ashbery and Kenneth Koch, and through them, to the great Modernist precursor, Gertrude Stein.""--Women's Review of Books"

In this, the third volume of poems from Lynn Emanuel, a reader and a writer don their respective roles and embark on the journey of a book.