Discovery - Hardcover

Brodsky, Joseph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374317933 ISBN 13: 9780374317935

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 1999

Synopsis

A never-before-published poem for children by the Nobel laureate

In the beginning there were just waves
hammering at the obstacles . . .

So begins a lovely, thought-provoking poem that Joseph Brodsky wrote in 1995. It is about the first discoverers of America -- fish, birds, then man. But it is also about a land that even today is full of secrets waiting to be discovered. Illustrated in collage and gouache by Vladimir Radunsky, this poem is, finally, a celebration of our world -- a world open to possibilities.

About this title

About the Author

Joseph Brodsky (1940--96) was one of the great poets of the twentieth century. Among his most famous books are A Part of Speech, Less Than One, and To Urania. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987, and in 1991--92 served as U.S. Poet Laureate. Vladimir Radunsky is the accomplished illustrator of numerous books for children, including Bill Martin, Jr.'s The Maestro Plays. He lives in New Jersey.

From Publishers Weekly

With chunks of chopped paper and expressionistic slashes of paint, Radunsky (Telephone; Hail to Mail) interprets a piece by the late U.S. poet laureate Brodsky about the "discovery" of America. Brodsky visits an uninhabited section of Earth where land, water and air are in chaos. In the illustrations, Radunsky represents trees as rust-orange stalks capped by roughly circular green and blue bulbs, the land as a slab of fibrous brown paper, and the sky and sea are flat blue with a few white-dot stars or the crude curve of an ocean wave. The first explorers of this nameless terrain have gills or feathers: "petrels" arrive sooner than "settlers," Brodsky observes. The poet questions humans' claim to an ancient and indifferent land; "Nature sat down and picked up her pen/ to make what fish and seagull/ saw a reality: off sailed men/ and made America legal." Radunsky depicts men of various races against a backdrop of colonial buildings, and in the witty final spread, he pastes a snapshot of BrodskyAa notable immigrant himselfAagainst bristles of paper skyscrapers. This complex effort is the picture book equivalent to improvisational jazz, and its eccentricities may be most appealing to adults. However, when reread with patience, this volume's chewy rhymes and crunchy visuals will surely bring satisfaction to a younger audience. All ages. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0374317933
• ISBN 13: 9780374317935
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 24
• Illustrator: Radunsky Vladimir