Normal Distance
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- $199.00
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- $199.00
Descripción editorial
A collection of funny and thought-provoking poems inspired by surprising facts that will appeal to poetry lovers and poetry haters alike, from the author of the essay collection The Unreality of Memory, “a work of sheer brilliance, beauty, and bravery” (Andrew Sean Greer)
Known to be both “casually brilliant” (Sandra Newman) and a “ruthless self-examiner” (Sarah Manguso), acclaimed writer Elisa Gabbert brings her “questing, restless intelligence” (Kirkus Reviews) to a new collection of poetry.
By turns funny and chilling, these poems collect strange facts, interrogate language, and ask unanswerable questions that offer the pleasure of discovery on nearly every page: How does one suffer “gladly,” exactly? How bored are dogs? Which is more frightening, nothing or empty space? Was Wittgenstein sexy?
The poems in this collection are earwormy, ultracontemporary, essayistic, aphoristic, and philosophical—invitations to eavesdrop on a mind paying attention to itself. Normal Distance is a book about thinking and feeling, meaning and experience, trees and the weather, and the boredom and pain of living through time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Questions about time, philosophy, language, and the significance of human emotions color the funny and perceptive fifth collection from Gabbert (The Word Pretty). Pithy insights read like aphorisms with an edge, such as "Happiness is suffering for the right reasons." In one poem, Gabbert pontificates on the nature of boredom with an associative series of thoughts that range from relatively straightforward ("How bored are dogs?") to complex, arguing that some artists use tedium to enhance their work ("Kubrick movies are often great while/ also boring."). Elsewhere, Gabbert contemplates "Paris syndrome," which is "a state of ‘extreme shock' experienced/ by travelers forced to reconcile Paris-in-reality with/ their expectations," amid a discussion of death and grief, adding further layers to her examination of suffering as intrinsically human and impossible to separate from joy. There is an idiosyncratic logic to Gabbert's musings ("Eye pain feels inherently emotional. The way odd numbers feel more random") that is engaging and accessible to all readers. The humorous, aphoristic quality of Gabbert's self-examination will charm those seeking a bright, contemporary voice.
