The Long and the Short of It
Poems 1955-2005
Published on 1. June 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
398 pages
978-1-85224-701-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Long and the Short of It celebrates the 50-year-long writing career of Roy Fisher and the all-too-short 75 years (thus far) he has lived on this planet. Playing the language, pleasuring the imagination and teasing the senses, Fisher's witty, inventive and anarchic poetry has given lasting delight to his many dedicated readers. Roy Fisher's most notable achievements have included his exploration of the modern city, his experiments with perception and sensory experience, his jazz-inspired prose and his political and cultural comedies. His voice too has made its argumentative presence strongly felt: uplifting but also down-to-earth, sometimes cantankerous but also companionable, sarcastic yet sociable, playfully extravagant while wise and grounded. The Long and the Short of It covers the entire range of Fisher's work, from its fraught beginnings in the 1950s through major texts of the 1960s and 1970s as City, The Ship's Orchestra and 'Wonders of Obligation' to A Furnace, his 1980s masterpiece, and beyond. An expanded edition, The Long and the Short of It: Poems 1955-2010 - including Standard Midland - was published in 2012.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Tyne and Wear
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-85224-701-0 (9781852247010)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
10/2012
2nd Edition
Bloodaxe Books Ltd
€32.50
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Roy Fisher (1930-2017) published over 30 poetry books, and was the subject of numerous critical essays and several studies, including The Thing About Roy Fisher: Critical Essays on the Poetry of Roy Fisher, edited by Peter Robinson and John Kerrigan (Liverpool University Press, 2000), and of The Unofficial Roy Fisher, edited by Peter Robinson (Shearsman Books, 2010). He published four books with Bloodaxe. The Dow Low Drop: New & Selected Poems (1996) was superseded by his later retrospective, The Long and the Short of It: Poems 1955-2005 (2005), and followed by Standard Midland (2010), published on his 80th birthday, which was shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. An expanded edition, The Long and the Short of It: Poems 1955-2010 - including Standard Midland - was published in 2012. His first US Selected Poems, edited by August Kleinzahler, was published by Flood Editions in 2011. His final collection, Slakki: New & Neglected Poems (2016) is a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. Born in Handsworth, Birmingham, he retired as Senior Lecturer in American Studies from Keele University in 1982. He was also a jazz musician, and lived in the Derbyshire Peak District in his later years.