The Anthologist - Softcover

Baker, Nicholson

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847397824 ISBN 13: 9781847397829

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK, 2010

Synopsis

The Anthologist, is narrated by Paul Chowder, a poet of some little reknown who is sitting in his barn most of the time trying to write the introduction to a new anthology of poetry called Only Rhyme. He's having a hard time getting started because his career is falling apart, his girlfriend Roz has recently left him, and he is thinking about the poets throughout history who have suffered far worse and actually deserve to feel sorry for themselves. He has also promised his readers that he will reveal many wonderful secrets and tips and tricks about poetry, and it looks like the introduction will be a little longer than he'd thought. What unfolds is a wholly entertaining and beguiling love story about poetry, among other things; Paul tells us about all of the great poets, from Tennyson, Swinburne, and Yeats to the moderns (Roethke, Bogan, Merwin) to the contemporary scene as well as the editorial staff of The New Yorker's editorial department. And what he reveals about the rhythm and music of poetry itself is astonishing and makes you realize how incredibly important poetry is to our lives. At the same time, Paul manages just barely to realize all of this himself and what results is a tender, wonderfully romantic, often hilarious, and inspired novel.

About this title

Review:

`As insightful a work of criticism as you could wish to read . . . brilliant flashes of perception' --Guardian

`The Anthologist is a perfect match of style, character and subject matter'
--The Herald

'Easygoing and effortlessly comic prose . . . the affable charm of Baker's narrator emanates from the very first line . . .wonderful' --Observer, Paperback of the week

`A beguiling love story about the mysteries of rhyme' --Daily Telegraph

'You will adore this wry, clever novel by the ever-ingenious Nicholson Baker' --Sunday Telegraph

`Excellent . . . surely the best novel about poetry ever written' --Metro

`Baker's gentle novel is well written, with much to admire'
--Financial Times

`Fluent & funny' --Nick Laird, Books of the Year, Telegraph

About the Author:

Nicholson Baker was born in 1957 and attended the Eastman School of Music and Haverford College. He is the author of several novels, including The Mezzanine, Vox and The Fermata, and House of Holes; and four works of non fiction, U and I, The Size of Thoughts, Double Fold (winner of the 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award), and Human Smoke. He lives in Maine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1847397824
• ISBN 13: 9781847397829
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256