Cornerless People by John Hartley Williams
'There is only one subject here & that is the people of the title. Any book with people in it is a gaolhouse, as you will see. There they all sit, waiting for you, the reader, to open the book. Why are all these people cornerless? Because in this prison, this book, which is just a figment of yr imagination, they belong nowhere, have no edges & are therefore exposed on all surfaces. On a flat plane there is no dimension which holds them. Odd penitentiary, this. If you pay them a pastoral visit you will find nothing but the anxiety of truth. That old missed bus feeling. Better get out of here & make sure of yr connection. Alas, words are no more than a request stop at which you have forgotten to raise yr hand. And there you are, looking up the road, watching it vanish, while yr fingers creep imperceptibly into yr jacket & locate exactly the right amount of change to purchase this volume. I knew you wd.' - John Hartley Williams
He is comic, ironic, satirical and ridiculous but most important of all he is impatient and angry.. Writing out of a Europe where the Cold War may have been won, Williams might well be its first true chronicler. -- David Kennedy * London Magazine *
John Hartley Williams (1942-2014) published four collections with Bloodaxe (all now out of print) after making his debut with Chatto, and was co-translator, with Hilde Ottschofski, of Marin Sorescu's Censored Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2001). He won first prize in the Arvon International Poetry Competition in 1983 with 'Ephraim Destiny's Perfectly Utter Darkness', the centrepiece of his second collection Bright River Yonder (Bloodaxe Books, 1987), which was followed by Cornerless People (1990), Double (1994), and Canada (1997), a Poetry Book Society Choice shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. His later collections were mostly published by Cape: Spending Time with Walter (2001), Blues (2004), which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, and Cafe des Artistes (2009). His other books included a surrealist film noir thriller, Mystery in Spiderville (Vintage), two collections from Salt Publlishing, Pistol Sonnets (2002), The Ship (2007), and his final collection, Assault on the Clouds (Shoestring Press, 2012). He also collaborated on several projects with Matthew Sweeney, including their handbook Teach Yourself Writing Poetry (1997) and the novel Death Comes for the Poets (Muswell Press, 2012). Born in Cheshire, he grew up in London, studied at the universities of Nottingham and London. He moved to Berlin in 1976, and taught at the Free University of Berlin for many years. He also lived and worked in France, Francophone Africa and Yugoslavia.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781852241018 |
| ISBN 10 | 1852241012 |
| Title | Cornerless People |
| Author | John Hartley Williams |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloodaxe Books Ltd |
| Year published | 1990-09-28 |
| Number of pages | 80 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |