The Republic of Self (First Book) - Softcover

Powell, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1930974035 ISBN 13: 9781930974036

Publisher: Western Michigan University, New Issues Press, 2001

Synopsis

The Republic of Self is a meditation on both the public and private American self. Elizabeth Powell's serious yet sexy and entertaining poems attempt to reconcile the divisions, diversions, and prospects of the self as we know it. Throughout her spirited investigation the poet enlists poems in prose--within the larger, more lyrical narration--to comment on the self's predicament, much as one of Shakespeare's fools might comment upon a play. Indeed, the self is a fool of sorts, as the poems infer through their wit, gravity, wistfulness, and desires.The Republic of Self becomes a field guide to all that lives within: nymphs, satyrs, Greco-Roman gods, even the icons of mass media and government are here in this, our forever new/old republic still inventing itself. Elizabeth Powell brings us a wise, outrageous, and surprisingly tender view of who we are.

About this title

About the Author

ELIZABETH POWELL was born in New York City and received a BA from the University of Wisconsin, and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Vermont College. She has taught at Goddard College and at the University of Vermont and has also worked as a journalist and congressional aide. She has received grants from the Vermont Council on the Arts, as well as a residency from Yaddo. Her poems have appeared in The Atlanta Review, Harvard Review, Sonora Review, Poet Lore, and elsewhere. Her short fiction has appeared in The Black Warrior Review. Elizabeth teaches at the University of Vermont, is poetry editor of Green Mountains Review, and lives with her family in Burlington, Vermont.

Edition details

• Publisher: Western Michigan University, New Issues Press
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1930974035
• ISBN 13: 9781930974036
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80