14 oct 2008

(128)

*Silliman. N/O. 1994. 107 pp.

Two sections of the Alphabet, "Non" and and "Oz," are collected in the volume, published by Roof.

The various sections of this long poem were not published by one publisher. Nor were they written or published in sequential order, A through Z. I acquired the parts that I own in different places and at different times, with no particular interest in being "completist." I don't even have all my Silliman books in one place. In short, my experience of this work is rather discontinous, fragmented. I suppose i could buy the complete work between two covers, available now, but what would be the fun of that?

4 comentarios:

Gary dijo...

It's a huge tome, and may be difficult to read for that reason alone. (I wish they'd done it in two volumes.)

That said, if you don't have What, which I think was published in the 80s or early 90s by The Figures, it's worth getting the tome for that piece alone.

IMHO.

Jonathan dijo...

I do have What somewhere. Eventually I'll get the complete work. It would be fun to collect all the individual pieces of it.

Jordan dijo...

Seconding the What recommendation.

Unknown dijo...

I often recommend What as the piece to read for anyone who is unfamiliar with my work, and especially if they're unfamiliar with contemporary poetry.

But there are a lot of sections that have never appeared in bookform before, and can only be had in the complete Alphabet

Ron