The Life of Images
Selected Prose
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
A collection of new and selected essays by the Pulitzer Prize–winner and former Poet Laureate.
In addition to being one of America’s most famous and commended poets, Charles Simic is a prolific and talented essayist. The Life of Images brings together his best prose work written over twenty-five years.
A blend of the straightforward, the wry, and the hopeful, the essays in The Life of Images explore subjects ranging from literary criticism to philosophy, photography to Simic’s childhood in a war-torn country. Culled from five collections, each work demonstrates the qualities that make Simic’s poetry so brilliant yet accessible.
Whether he is revealing the influence of literature on his childhood development, pondering the relationship between food and comfort, or elegizing the pull to return to a homeland that no longer exists, the legendary poet shares his distinctive take on the world and offers an intimate look into his remarkable mind.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This essay collection may seem somewhat redundant, since its selections can be readily found in other books (except for five previously uncollected pieces), but it leaves no doubt that former poet laureate Simic wields a powerful pen. In artful, lucid, and sometimes humorous essays, he offers commanding insights on such diverse topics as poetry's relationship to philosophy, the ravages of war, and the unpredictable beauties of film and music. In "Buster Keaton," he writes of the silent-movie comedian, "What makes Keaton unforgettable is the composure and dignity he maintains in the face of what amounts to a deluge of misfortune." In "My Secret," Simic admits that he likes to write in bed and also reflects on the pleasure of writing in the kitchen, stating that, "All that's left for the poet to do is garnish his poems with a little parsley and serve them to poetry gourmets." In the powerful "Charles the Obscure," about the blues guitarist Funny Papa Smith, Simic observes, "The blues poet has been where we are all afraid to go." Readers may regret that Simic provides no introduction to shed light on the selection process for this book. Nonetheless, his wit shines and sparkles on every page.
