A Nostalgist's Map of America
Poems
Will be published approx. on 4. February 1993
Book
Paperback/Softback
108 pages
978-0-393-30924-9 (ISBN)
Description
Mapping America as he travels westward, the Nostalgist is an exile from his native Kashmir, and even from his first American home; his is the unique perspective of the outsider. These jeweled, intricate poems, like the multilayered "In Search of Evanescence," locate and reflect the America that must be "unseen to be believed."
Somewhere between cartographer and stargazer, the Nostalgist links images of water, desert, and myth, returning to Tucson in the monsoons, or seeing Chile in his rearview mirror, all the while creating an intense and vital vision.
Somewhere between cartographer and stargazer, the Nostalgist links images of water, desert, and myth, returning to Tucson in the monsoons, or seeing Chile in his rearview mirror, all the while creating an intense and vital vision.
Reviews / Votes
"There are Mogul palace ceilings whose countless mirrored convexities at once reduce, multiply, scatter and enchant the figures under their spell. If I may speak for 'America,' it is a privilege to be held in so mercurial, many-faceted a gaze as this poet's, who goes to the heart of my troubles and turns them into bitter honey." -- James MerrillMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
148 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-393-30924-9 (9780393309249)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Agha Shahid Ali (1949-2001) taught at the University of Utah, at the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.