Within memories of colonial invasion and tribal breakdown, The Doll with Two Backs tells the story of failed friendship between a Native American girl and a visiting Irish academic. In a many-layered work echoing with literary and historical allusions the `Prelude' sounds the motifs of myths of origin, religious beliefs and oral narrative, while the main movement, `Broken Lights, Broken Lances, ' explores these issues in more detail. Failure, the recurrent trope, is sounded in images of tribal collapse, in the mixture of hope and elegy attending the relationship between teacher and student and in the failure of the imagination to absorb the deposits of myth and story. It is in keeping with this failure that the friendship ends. In the stillness that ensues the poet-teacher searches for understanding. An answer may be found in the work itself. A poem about the conjunction of dissimilar forces is a metaphor for the task of the imagination: to make sense of disorder, to bring harmony to the ""broken lights"" of tradition. Well-crafted, graceful lyrics in Part Two deal with persistence and failure, the cruelties and fears of childhood, the joys and disappointments of love, and the strength of memory.
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Seller: Tall Stories BA, Stoneyford, Ireland
Soft cover. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. as new unused. Seller Inventory # 2000029235
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Seller: Tall Stories BA, Stoneyford, Ireland
Soft cover. Condition: USED_VERYGOOD. as new unused. Seller Inventory # 2000023036
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Seller: Callaghan Books South, New Port Richey, FL, U.S.A.
Trade Paperback. Condition: As New. Thin trade paperback with glossy purple wrappers, illustrated with Native American art on front wrapper, 71 pages of poetry of love between an Irish scholar and Native American woman. Two copies available, both Mint. Seller Inventory # 42342
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Seller: Kennys Bookstore, Olney, MD, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. 2007. Paperback. Good copy with some minor shelf wear. Signed and inscribed by the author to previous owner. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # KKD0007808
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Seller: Kennys Bookshop and Art Galleries Ltd., Galway, GY, Ireland
Condition: Very Good. 2007. Paperback. Good copy with some minor shelf wear. Signed and inscribed by the author to previous owner. . . . . Seller Inventory # KKD0007808
Quantity: 1 available