Troubled Lovers in History: A Sequence of Poems (Polymer Science and Engineering),Used

Review Goldbarths wackily polymathic exuberance now confronts his scariest foes yet: human separateness, divorce, the parts of the psyche that split couples up. ... (Fans of brainy novelists like Richard Powers or David Foster Wallace might love Goldbarth even if they dont read much poetry.) Goldbarth (who snagged the National Book Critics Circle Award for 1991sHeaven and Earth) wants to use his mountains of facts, his piles of odd words, to unearth old virtues: his drive toward redemption, pathos and comedy tugs heroically against the drag of his largely sad material. Its hard to read these poems without hoping for, even rooting for, the poets own marriage. They bear a frightened sadness, and a depth, new to Goldbarths work: theyre also as energetic and winning as ever. Publishers WeeklyProlific poet Goldbarth presents an eccentric and pleasing cycle of poems about the relationships between lovers and between parent and child. Goldbarths sensibility is one of the few that deserves to be called cinematic: he works like an avantgarde filmmaker, with the verbalaesthetic equivalents of jumpcut editing and the handheld camera. Amusing wherever they are not startling, Goldbarths superbly intelligent poems change directions at top speed: Theres an airplane in the skies, from somewhere / out of poetic eternitime, it hides / between the couplets ... and deposits / a microsurveillance device in one of those alpenroses / you read about. Yes you / you're being watched. Goldbarth is a comic and compelling poet.Library Journal Product Description Troubled Lovers in Historydemonstrates an exhilarating range: from the briefest of lyrics to rich and multipartite narrative adventures in exotic realms; from a comic monologue spoken in immigrant Yinglish to a soulful elegy set in San Antonios Pearl Beer brewery plant; from Martian invaders, through polar explorers, to all of us busy inflicting words with edges on those we love.Goldbarth sets his unflinching study of individual hope and grief against the backdrop of history: the travels of Marco Polo; Bertha and Wilhelm Rontgens discovery of Xrays; an 1800 battle twixt Dragon Sam, the great Exhaler of Gouts of Amazing Flame ... and Liquid Dan, the Living Geyser.From the night stars to the little starring parts we all play every day,Troubled Lovers in Historytakes us into the text of our dreams and despairs, as witnessed by the writer whom Joyce Carol Oates called a poet of remarkable giftsa dazzling virtuoso who can break your heart. From Library Journal Prolific poet Goldbarth (Adventures in Ancient Egypt, LJ 12/96; Beyond, Godine, 1998) presents an eccentric and pleasing cycle of poems about the relationships between lovers and between parent and child. Goldbarth's sensibility is one of the few that deserves to be called cinematic: he works like an avantgarde filmmaker, with the verbalaesthetic equivalents of jumpcut editing and the handheld camera. Amusing wherever they are not startling, Goldbarth's superbly intelligent poems change directions at top speed: "There's an airplane in the skies, from somewhere/ out of poetic eternitime, it hides/ between the couplets...and deposits/ a microsurveillance device in one of those alpenroses/ you read about. Yes you/ Ayou're being watched." Goldbarth is a comic and compelling poet. Recommended for all poetry collections.AGraham Christian, AndoverHarvard Theological Lib., Cambridge, MACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Albert Goldbarthis Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the department of English at Wichita State University. He is the author of eight other collections of poetry, includingAdventures in Ancient EgyptandMarriage, and Other Science Fiction.