The Folding Cliffs

WS Merwin

ISBN 10: 0375401482 / ISBN 13: 9780375401480

Published by Alfred A Knopf, New York, 1998

About this Item

First Edition. Fine condition. Text is perfect. // 325 pages. Regarded as a masterpiece narrative in a revisionary retelling of the chronicle of the Hawaiian islands. A mythical epic poetry. Chapters : Climbing, The Mountain, Born, There, The Valley, The Cliffs, The Shore. Peter Matthiessen : A bold and stunning chronicle…all beautifully fashioned in a rare epic poetry which is also a kind of transcendent prose.

Seller Inventory # 17

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Folding Cliffs
• Publisher: Alfred A Knopf, New York
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375401482
• ISBN 13: 9780375401480
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Abby Weintraub
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Dimensions: 6.5W x 1H x 0.95D inches 6.5 inches width by 1 inches height by 0.95 inches depth
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Editions
  • Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

From a major American poet--a thrilling story, in verse, of nineteenth-century Hawaii. The story of an attempt by the government to seize and constrain possible victims of leprosy and the determination of one small family not to be taken. A tale of the perils and glories of their flight into the wilds of the island of Kauai, pursued by a gunboat full of soldiers.
A brilliant capturing--inspired by the poet's respect for the people of these islands--of their life, their history, the gods and goddesses of their mythic past. A somber revelation of the wrecking of their culture through the exploitative incursions of Europeans and Americans. An epic narrative that enthralls with the grandeur of its language and of its vision.

About the Author

W. S. Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and grew up in Union City, New Jersey, and in Scranton, Pennsylvania. From 1949 to 1951 he worked as a tutor in France, Portugal, and Majorca. He has since lived in many parts of the world, most recently on Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. His many books of poems, prose, and translations are listed at the beginning of this volume. He has been the recipient of many awards and prizes, including the Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets (of which he is now a Chancellor), the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, and the Bollingen Prize in Poetry; most recently he has received the Governor's Award for Literature of the state of Hawaii, the Tanning Prize for mastery in the art of poetry, a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.