Poetry. Philosophy. Translated from the French by Nathanael. Drawing from philosophy (including Pre-Socratic materialists, Nietzsche, and Spinoza), A SPECTACULAR INFLUENCE by Chantal Neveu offers readers an exercise in extreme perception. With clear lines and minimalist language, A SPECTACULAR INFLUENCE solicits movement in melancholy as a way of celebrating the intimate role that each of us plays in the human collective experience. This is Neveu's "materialist poetry manifesto" in all its paradoxical joy through tragedy. It holds a linguistic magnifying glass up to core subjects at the foundation of our very humanness, dwelling in the Spinozan questions, Is consciousness an illusion? How do metamorphoses arise within the collective? In this graceful, rich translation by acclaimed author and translator Nathanael, Neveu's poetic perspective invites us to consider that, in our inevitable connection with the world, "I am a human, and nothing human is foreign to me" (after Terence).
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Height: 198 mm
Width: 107 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
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978-1-77166-176-8 (9781771661768)
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CHANTAL NEVEU is the author of several books of poetry, including you; La vie radieuse (This Radiant Life, winner of the 2021 Governor General's Literary Award for Translation and the 2021 Nelson Ball Prize); coït (Coït); and Une spectaculaire influence (A Spectacular Influence). She has created numerous interdisciplinary literary works, in Canada and abroad. Her work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies. She has held residencies at Maison de la poésie de Nantes (France), Passa Porta and Villa Hellebosch (Belgium), and Villa Waldberta (Germany). Neveu lives in Montreal.
NATHANAËL is the author of many books written in English and French, and with variant names. Some titles include We Press Ourselves Plainly, Carnet de désaccords, Absence Where As (Claude Cahun and the Unopened Book). In addition to Catherine Mavrikakis, she has translated Gail Scott, Suzanne Jacob, John Keene as well as Édouard Glissant's Poetic Intention. She lives in Chicago.
