The Cineaste: Poems - Softcover

Jordan, A. Van

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393348733 ISBN 13: 9780393348736

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014

Synopsis

“Finds evocative new ways to connect us to a shared storytelling heritage.”―Entertainment Weekly

A. Van Jordan, an acclaimed American poet and the author of three previous volumes, “demonstrates poetry’s power to be at once intimate and wide-ranging” (Robert Pinsky, Washington Post Book World). In this penetrating new work he takes us with him to the movies, where history reverberates and characters are larger than life. The Cineaste is an entrancing montage of poems, wherein film serves as the setting for contemplative trances, memoir, and pure fantasy. At its center is a sonnet sequence that imagines the struggle of pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux against D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, which Micheaux saw not only as racist but also as the start of a powerful new art form. “Sharpen the focus in your lens, and you / Sharpen your view of the world; you can see / How people inhabit space in their lives, / How the skin of Negroes and whites both play / With light.” Scenes and characters from films such as Metropolis, Stranger than Paradise, Last Year at Marienbad, The Red Shoes, and The Great Train Robbery also come to luminous life in this vibrant new collection. The Cineaste is an extended riff on Jordan’s life as a moviegoer and a brilliant exploration of film, poetry, race, and the elusiveness of reverie.

from “Last Year at Marienbad”

A place, though visible, is like a ghost
of memories. Even memories one forgets
linger in the space in which they occurred.
Here within the expanse of vaulted ceilings,

doorways leading to more doors, hallways
leading to more halls, the faintest recollections
absorb over time; no act will wholly evanesce.

About this title

About the Author

A. Van Jordan is the author of Rise, M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, and Quantum Lyrics. Among other awards, he has received the Whiting Award, the Annisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the Pushcart Prize. A professor of English at the University of Michigan, he lives in Ann Arbor.

Review

The Cineaste is the announcement of the birth of an entirely new poetics. A. Van Jordan brings the art of film and the art of poetry together in a virtuoso act of passion. This work goes beyond memorable speech into an articulation of the spirit, the hunger, the enchantment and terror of a nation and a time. In unforgettably resonant pieces this poetry creates a whole. This is one of our most important poets doing perhaps his own most important work of a lifetime. --Laura Kasischke

Brilliant... Every piece denotes feeling--and this is what moves us forward. --Grace Cavalieri

"Ekphrastic poetry . . . now includes not just fine arts but also films. . . . [Jordan's] best book.

Ekphrastic poetry . . . now includes not just fine arts but also films. . . . [Jordan s] best book. "

Rather than writing about films, Jordan remakes them serving as audience, director, editor, he recasts characters, reshoots scenes, turns the cameras around. --National Public Radio"

[O]ffers sharp ruminations on films both familiar (Blazing Saddles) and relatively obscure (Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali). --Thom Geier"

The poetry elevates the film because every piece denotes feeling. "

Brilliant Every piece denotes feeling and this is what moves us forward. --Grace Cavalieri"

The announcement of the birth of an entirely new poetics. A. Van Jordan brings the art of film and the art of poetry together in a virtuoso act of passion. This work goes beyond memorable speech into an articulation of the spirit, the hunger, the enchantment and terror of a nation and a time. In unforgettably resonant pieces this poetry creates a whole. This is one of our most important poets doing perhaps his own most important work of a lifetime. --Laura Kasischke"

For several books now, A. Van Jordan has been proving himself master of the dramatic monologue. His skill is especially dazzling in The Cineaste as he turns to cinema, that other realm of persona and projection. With an imagination illuminated by empathy, Jordan inhabits the eye of the camera, the eye of the actor, and the I of a viewer tethered to image and history. These terrific poems give shape to lives made of light. --Terrance Hayes"

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0393348733
• ISBN 13: 9780393348736
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 144