The Hunger Wall: Poems - Softcover

Ragan, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802134785 ISBN 13: 9780802134783

Publisher: Grove Press, 1996

Synopsis

In 1992, critically acclaimed poet James Ragan was in Los Angeles when riots exploded across racial and class lines. That same year he was also living in Prague when Czechoslovakia divided into two separate nations, motivated by the principles of "nationalism." This odd coincidence forms the crux of his new, eagerly anticipated book of poetry. The poems in The Hunger Wall, named for a wall near the Prague Castle, take these two cultural sensibilities that seem worlds apart and explore the subtle nuances of their unlikely similarities. In beautifully crafted and metaphorically rich language, Ragan studies what it means to set a "border," whether it be political, racial, or economic. The Hunger Wall examines a continually changing world — a world of shifting cultural identities in which the widening gap between the rich and the poor is dangerously explosive.

About this title

Synopsis:

Verses in this volume explore the parallels between riot-torn Los Angeles and Prague, the leading city in newly-divided Czechoslovakia, reflecting on the divisions--ethnic, cultural, and political--in each place.

From the Back Cover:

The Hunger Wall which are poems by James Ragan seek the core of feeling in the intertwined personal and political dramas of eastern Europe and southern California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0802134785
• ISBN 13: 9780802134783
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 112