The Jazz Age by Aidan Semmens
If you can imagine William Blake playing Scrabble with Joni Mitchell, Catherine of Aragon booking into the Holiday Inn, or Cassius Clay meeting the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, you’re ready for the dreamworld created by Aidan Semmens in The Jazz Age. After five books of intense – some would say difficult – poetry, he has produced something more accessible, surprising, and fun. In a series of prose vignettes he casts an array of historical figures into times and places other than their own, playing on anachronism and dislocation to surreal, witty, frequently comic, occasionally poignant or disturbing effect. Each brief episode is crystalline, the whole piece theatrical, enjoyably absurd. You might identify a questioning of belief systems, of social hierarchy, of human individuality and inter-relationship – but essentially this is, as it is billed, entertainment.
Yorkshire-born, Durham-raised, Semmens has been a journalist for more than 40 years, working for both regional and national press, predominantly on the sports pages, but also as a columnist on general news topics. A gap of 33 years separated his first published poetry pamphlet from his first full-length collection, since when he has produced another five books. After 27 years in Suffolk, he recently relocated to Orkney.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784632601 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784632600 |
| Title | The Jazz Age |
| Author | Aidan Semmens |
| Series | Salt Modern Poets |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Salt Publishing |
| Year published | 2022-10-15 |
| Number of pages | 144 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |