Angle of Yaw (First Edition)

Ben Lerner

ISBN 10: 1556592469 / ISBN 13: 9781556592461

Published by Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend, 2006

About this Item

First printing. A fine copy. A clean, unmarked copy. Although not marked as such in any way, this book came from the library of poet and literary critic J.D. McClatchy, from his estate in Stonington, Connecticut. Seller Inventory # McClatchy-221

Bibliographic Details

Title: Angle of Yaw (First Edition)

Publisher: Copper Canyon Press, Port Townsend

Publication Date: 2006

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Fine

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

In his bold second book, Ben Lerner molds philosophical insight, political outrage, and personal experience into a devastating critique of mass society. Angle of Yaw investigates the fate of public space, public speech, and how the technologies of viewing--aerial photography in particular--feed our culture an image of itself. And it's a spectacular view.

The man observes the action on the field with the tiny television he brought to the stadium. He is topless, painted gold, bewigged. His exaggerated foam index finger indicates the giant screen upon which his own image is now displayed, a model of fanaticism. He watches the image of his watching the image on his portable TV on his portable TV. He suddenly stands with arms upraised and initiates the wave that will consume him.

Haunted by our current "war on terror," much of the book was written while Lerner was living in Madrid (at the time of the Atocha bombings and their political aftermath), as the author steeped himself in the history of Franco and fascism. Regardless of when or where it was written, Angle of Yaw will further establish Ben Lerner as one of our most intriguing and least predictable poets.

About the Author:

Ben Lerner is from Topeka, Kansas, and holds a B.A and M.F.A. from Brown University. A former Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, Lerner co-founded No: a journal of the arts. His first book, The Lichtenberg Figures, won the Hayden Carruth Award and was named one of the year's best books of poetry by Library Journal.