The Beforelife by Franz Wright

The Beforelife by Franz Wright

In this stunning collection, Franz Wright chronicles the journey back from a place of isolation and wordlessness. After a period when it seemed certain he would never write poetry again, he speaks with bracing clarity about the twilit world that lies between madness and sanity, addiction and recovery. Wright negotiates the precarious transition from illness to health in a state of skeptical rapture, discovering along the way the exhilaration of love--both divine and human--and finding that even the most battered consciousness can be good company.

Whether he is writing about his regret for the abortion of a child, describing the mechanics of slander (I can just hear them on the telephone and keening all their kissy little knives), or composing an ironic ode to himself (To a Blossoming Nut Case), Wright's poems are exquisitely precise. Charles Simic has characterized him as a poetic miniaturist, whose secret ambition is to write an epic on the inside of a matchbook cover. Time and again, Wright turns on a dime in a few brief lines, exposing the dark comedy and poignancy of his heightened perception.

Here is one of the poems from the collection:

Description of Her Eyes

Two teaspoonfuls,
and my mind goes
everyone can kiss my ass now--

then it's changed,
I change my mind.

Eyes so sad, and infinitely kind.

From the Hardcover edition.

Franz Wright was born in Vienna and is the author of eight full-length books of poetry. The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Walking to Martha's Vineyard (Knopf, 2003). In 2009, 2007, and 2006, Knopf released his books Wheeling Motel, Earlier Poems, and God's Silence. The chapbooks LEAVE ME HIDDEN (Marick Press, 2010) and THE CATFISH (Marick Press, 2007), as well as the full-length collections The Beforelife (2001), Ill Lit: New and Collected Poems (1998), Rorschach Test (1995), The Night World and the Term Night (1993), and Midnight Postscript (1993), are among Wright's other works. Rene Char, Erica Pedretti, and Rainer Maria Rilke are among the poets Wright has translated.

He has won grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the PEN/Voelcker Prize for Poetry. Wright has taught at Emerson College and the University of Arkansas, among other institutions. He is now the Brandeis Writer-in-Residence. He's also volunteered at the Center for Grieving Children and worked in a mental health clinic in Lexington, Massachusetts.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780375411540
ISBN 10	0375411542
Title	The Beforelife
Author	Franz Wright
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Knopf
Year published	2001-01-23
Number of pages	96
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.