Synopses & Reviews
Simone Weil described “decreation” as “undoing the creature in us”-an undoing of self. In her first collection in five years, Anne Carson explores this idea with characteristic brilliance and a tantalizing range of reference, moving from Aphrodite to Antonioni, Demosthenes to Annie Dillard, Telemachos to Trotsky, and writing in forms as varied as opera libretto, screenplay, poem, oratorio, essay, shot list, and rapture. As she makes her way through these forms she slowly dismantles them, and in doing so seeks to move through the self, to its undoing.
Review
"Cool, resolute, smart, and lovely...Carson has emerged in the last two decades as a kind of prophet of the unknowable." The Village Voice
Review
"[A] stunning, genre-defying masterpiece....For readers who have yet to experience Carson's work, let this be your introduction....[T]he beauty of Carson's work is that it never ceases to offer a thrill in a surprising, lovely turn of phrase, or a startling connection between an ancient myth and a childhood memory. Sometimes it is a blessing simply to be 'filled with wonder' at the possibilities of language." Alexis Smith, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
In her first collection in five years, Anne Carson contemplates "decreation" an activity described by Simone Weil as "undoing the creature in us" an undoing of self. But how can we undo self without moving
through self, to the very inside of its definition? Where else can we start?
Anne Carson's Decreation starts with form the undoing of form. Form is various here: opera libretto, screenplay, poem, oratorio, essay, shot list, rapture. The undoing is tender, but tenderness can change everything, or so the author appears to believe.
Synopsis
"One of the most interesting gatherings of material that any poet has published within living memory." --The Economist
Simone Weil described decreation as undoing the creature in us -- an undoing of self. In her first collection in five years, Anne Carson explores this idea with characteristic brilliance and a tantalizing range of reference, moving from Aphrodite to Antonioni, Demosthenes to Annie Dillard, Telemachos to Trotsky, and writing in forms as varied as opera libretto, screenplay, poem, oratorio, essay, shot list, and rapture. As she makes her way through these forms she slowly dismantles them, and in doing so seeks to move through the self, to its undoing.
"Cool, resolute, smart, and lovely.... Carson has emerged in the last two decades as a kind of prophet of the unknowable." --The Village Voice
"
About the Author
Anne Carson was twice a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; was honored with the 1996 Lannan Award and the 1997 Pushcart Prize, both for poetry; and was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2000. In 2001 she received the T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry the first woman to do so; the Griffin Poetry Prize; and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She currently teaches at the University of Michigan.