Synopses & Reviews
Wheatifield Under Clouded SkySuppose Gauguin had never seen Tahiti. Suppose the beche-de-mer and
sandalwood trade had not materialized
and the Polynesian gods held fast in the fruit of Nuku Hiva and the milk-
and-honey waters of Eiao.
Suppose that Europe during whichever century of its rise toward science
had not lost faith in the soul.
Suppose the need for conquest had turned inward, as a hunger after
clarity, a siege of the hidden fortress.
Suppose Gauguin had come instead to America. Suppose he left New
York and traveled west by train
to the silver fields around Carson City where the water-shaped, salt- and
heart-colored rocks
appeased the painter's sensibility and the ghost-veined filaments called
his banker's soul to roost.
Suppose he died there, in the collapse of his hand-tunneled mine shaft,
buried beneath the rubble of desire.
Suppose we take Van Gogh as our model. Suppose we imagine him alone
in the Dakotas,
subsisting on bulbs and tubers, sketching wildflowers and the sod huts of
immigrants as he wanders,
an itinerant prairie mystic, like Johnny Appleseed. Suppose what
consumes him is nothing so obvious as crows
or starlight, steeples, cypresses, pigment, absinthe, epilepsy, reapers or
sowers or gleaners,
but is, like color, as absolute and bodiless as the far horizon, the journey
toward purity of vision.
Suppose the pattern of wind in the grass could signify a deeper
restlessness or the cries of land-locked gulls bespoke the democratic
nature of our solitude.
Suppose the troubled clouds themselves were harbingers. Suppose the
veil could be lifted.
Synopsis
American Noise is a rapturous exploration of American culture and landscape. With compassionate wit and insight, Campbell McGrath transports us on a journey through contemporary society, transforming the commonplace into scenes of profound revelation. From late-night bars to early-morning diners, suburban malls to the Mojave Desert, McGrath's meticulously detailed vision defines singular moments of joy and melancholy.
About the Author
Campbell McGrath is the author of four full-length collections: Capitalism, American Noise, Spring Comes to Chicago, and Road Atlas. His recent awards include the Kingsley Tufts Prize, the Cohen Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Witter-Bynner Fellowship from the Library of Congress in association with the Poet Laureate. McGrath teaches creative writing at Florida International University and lives in Miami Beach with his wife and two sons.