Books by James Pollock

You Are Here: Essays on the Art of Poetry in Canada

Forthcoming from The Porcupine's Quill, November 15, 2012

Typeset in Cartier Book. Printed on acid-free Zephyr Antique laid. Smyth sewn into sixteen page signatures with hand-tipped endleaves, front and back.

ISBN-10: 0889843570

EAN-13: 9780889843578

Publication Date: 2012-11-15

Dimensions: 8.75 in x 5.56 in

Pages: 208

Price: $22.95

 

BOOK DESCRIPTION

From critic and poet James Pollock comes You Are Here, an incisive collection of essays that explore the newer, more cosmopolitan and technically sophisticated generation of Canadian poets.

Northrop Frye wrote that for Canadian poets the question of identity isn’t so much ‘Who am I?’ as ‘Where is here?’ In his ground-breaking book, James Pollock gives his answer: that where we are as a literary culture has a great deal to do with our relationship to elsewhere. For far too long, Canadians have refused to read our poetry in the larger international context of poetry as an art, leaving our poets isolated and ignored. Pollock sets out to situate our verse on the map of world poetry – a map which, like one of those incomplete globes from the sixteenth century, still leaves Canada largely uncharted.

Acutely intelligent and unflinchingly honest in its judgements, You Are Here is an eye-opening guide to the new world of Canadian poetry, sensitively exploring the work of such poets as Anne Carson, Daryl Hine, Jeffery Donaldson, Karen Solie and Eric Ormsby. The collection ends with a witty treatise on good criticism, and a passionate and learned reconsideration of poetic values, making You Are Here an essential companion for students and lovers of Canadian poetry everywhere.

Advance Praise for You Are Here

‘You don’t have to be as delighted as I am by James Pollock’s advocacy of Daryl Hine and Anne Carson as two of the most accomplished of living Canadian poets to recognize You Are Here as the most compelling enquiry into the current state of poetry in this country since Northrop Frye’s omnibus surveys in the 1950s. This is a book I’ve been waiting to read for most of my adult life.’

—T.F. Rigelhof, author of Hooked on Canadian Books: The Good, the Better, and the Best Canadian Novels since 1984
 

‘You Are Here: Essays on the Art of Poetry in Canada is an elegant salvo in the ongoing guerilla war against Canada’s complacent (and sometimes incompetent) poetry culture. Erudite but always accessible, Pollock is a critic who belongs to the best kind of old school: the sort whose members write clearly, can teach you a thing or two and have the nerve to have an opinion.’

—Jason Guriel, author of Pure Product

Pre-order from Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Chapters.Indigo.ca, and The Porcupine's Quill.

 

About the Author

james pollock - writer, editor, poet, critic and translator

 

James Pollock is the author of Sailing to Babylon, a book of poems scheduled for publication by Able Muse Press in 2012, and You Are Here: Essays on the Art of Poetry in Canada, forthcoming in 2012 from The Porcupine’s Quill. His poetry has been published in The Paris Review, Maisonneuve, Poetry Daily, The Fiddlehead, AGNI, Geist, Southern Poetry Review, Canadian Literature, and other journals in the U.S. and Canada, and listed in Best Canadian Poetry 2010. His critical essays and reviews have appeared in Contemporary Poetry Review, Canadian Notes & Queries, Arc Poetry Magazine, Literary Review of Canada, The New Quarterly, and elsewhere. . .

 

Typeface for You Are Here

Submitted by James Pollock on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 15:35

You Are Here: Essays on the Art of Poetry in Canada is being typeset by Tim Inkster at The Porcupine's Quill in a typeface called Cartier Book, designed by Carl Dair and Rod McDonald. It's the first important typeface designed in Canada, and has been described as "unified and commanding," as well as "elegantly functional and stunningly attractive." I call it an excellent choice.

Typeface for Sailing to Babylon

Submitted by James Pollock on Sat, 03/24/2012 - 02:21

My publisher Alex Pepple at Able Muse Press informs me that the text of Sailing to Babylon has been typeset. So the manuscript is turning into a book. The typeface is Garamond Premier Pro, a beautiful and award-winning design released in 2005. Apparently it took the designer, Robert Slimbach (senior type designer at Adobe) more than fifteen years to create. That's nearly how long it took me to write the book.

Final Manuscript of Sailing to Babylon

Submitted by James Pollock on Sat, 03/24/2012 - 01:54

I submitted the final manuscript of Sailing to Babylon to my publisher last weekend, after one final round of revisions. Many thanks to Carmine Starnino and my wife, Stormy Stipe, for their brilliant suggestions.

Audio File Posted

Submitted by James Pollock on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 23:11

Check out the newly posted audio file in which I read the poem "Northwest Passage" at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in the summer of 2005. Just click on the Poems tab and scroll down to the poem, then click on the audio file.

Upcoming Poetry Reading

Submitted by James Pollock on Sun, 02/19/2012 - 02:41

I've accepted an invitation to give a poetry reading at the beautiful Carnegie-Stout Public Library, 360 West 11th Street, in Dubuque, Iowa. The reading is scheduled for Wednesday, April 11, 2012, from 7:00 to 8:45 pm. Other readers will include Lauren Alleyne, Poet-in-Residence at the University of Dubuque, and Francine Banwarth, award-winning haiku poet and editor of Frogpond. Everyone is invited.

Two Books Forthcoming

Submitted by James Pollock on Thu, 02/09/2012 - 00:41

My first two books are about to be published this year and I feel like a nervous father expecting twins. I'm grateful to my editor Alexander Pepple at Able Muse Press for hooking my poetry manuscript out of the slush pile. And many thanks to my editor Carmine Starnino at The Porcupine's Quill for inviting me to put together a book of critical essays and reviews.

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© 2012 James Pollock