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More copies of this ISBNThe Winter Sun: Notes on a Vocationby Fanny Howe
Staff Pick
Contemporary American poet Fanny Howe has written over 25 books of poetry and prose. Her spare style of poetry is lauded for its bold experimentalism and the incisive intellect behind it. The Winter Sun, her third book of essays, is a deeply personal investigation, an attempt to map, and not without trepidation, the places a self coheres to the life it is designated, and where it diverges. These essays pass itinerantly through autobiography, ruminations on race and class and religion, on to scholars and mystics and French poets, and provide a means of shaping and then deciphering Howe's poetic practice. Like the sun in winter, this intimate window really should not be taken lightly. Avail yourself of the view. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Beautiful essays by Fanny Howe, a poet praised for her "private quest through the metaphysical universe . . . the results are startling and honest" (The New York Times Book Review) Fanny Howes richly contemplative The Winter Sun is a collection of essays on childhood, language, and meaning by one of Americas most original contemporary poets. Through a collage of reflections on people, places, and times that have been part of her life, Howe shows the origins and requirements of "a vocation that has no name." She finds proof of this in the lives of others — Jacques Lusseyran, who, though blind, wrote about his inner vision, surviving inside a concentration camp during World War II; the Scottish nun Sara Grant and Abbe Dubois, both of whom lived extensively in India where their vocation led them; the English novelists Antonia White and Emily Bronte; and the fifth-century philosopher and poet Bharthari. With interludes referring to her own place and situation, Howe makes this book into a Progress rather than a memoir. The Winter Sun displays the same power as found in her highly praised collection of essays, The Wedding Dress, a book described by James Carroll as an "unflinching but exhilarating look at real religion, the American desolation, a womans life, and, always, the redemption of literature." Review:"Poet Howe's collection of autobiographical essays, interspersed with poetry and meditations, overcomes a haphazard construction and a measure of obscurity through the author's intuitive control of tone. Pinging from her Boston childhood to French philosopher Simone Weil to a poem by a 9th century Irish monk, in the course of one essay, Howe does not slow down to explain the relationships among her disparate elements, taking for granted her audience's literacy (historical and otherwise). Closer to poetry than memoir, Howe's dense pastiche of references and memories hides many intriguing connections — for instance, when reading Howe on the blind, imprisoned French Resistance member, Jaques Lusseyran, who recorded his experiences on a Braille typewriter while starving to death, it's worth knowing that the frequently-referenced Weil died is the same way. Suicide is itself a recurring theme, handled with great sympathy: 'people commit suicide when they cannot recognize what it is to be a human being.' Howe struggles to reconcile darkness with the hope offered by religion, mysticism, art and philosophy, but rather than reaching a validation of life, or of literature, Howe wonders at their messy relationship, encapsulated in part by a concluding thought on Hans Christian Anderson: 'whatever he described as terrible was what he loved most about life.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) About the AuthorFanny Howe is the author of more than twenty books of poetry and prose. She has won a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and an award from the Academy of Arts and Letters. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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