Clayfeld Holds On

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American
Cover of the book Clayfeld Holds On by Robert Pack, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert Pack ISBN: 9780226303567
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: October 16, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Robert Pack
ISBN: 9780226303567
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: October 16, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

from “Clayfeld’s Farewell Epistle to Bob Pack”
 
            Beneath this mellow harvest moon,
I can still picture you—a boy content
just fishing with his father from a ledge
above a foaming stream. The flailing trout
you caught is packed in gleaming ice;
the pink stripe all along its side
is smeared across black shiny dots
that seem to shine with their own light.
            I’m sure that you can picture me
with equal vividness, and though we’re not
identical, there is a sense
in which I am inventing you
as much as you’re inventing me.
 
In Clayfeld Holds On, Robert Pack offers his readers a comprehensive portrait of his longtime protagonist Clayfeld, who is also Pack’s doppelgänger, his alternate self, enacting both the life that the poet has lived and the life he might have lived, given his proclivities and appetites. Poet and protagonist, taken together, are self and consciousness of self, the historical self and the embellished story of that literal self.
            Written with a masterly ear for rhythm, and interweaving narrative and lyrical passages, the poems recount Clayfeld’s formative memories while exploring concepts such as loyalty, generosity, commitment, as well as cosmic phenomena such as the big bang theory and black holes. Through all of this, Pack attempts to find purpose and meaning in an indifferent universe, and to explore the labyrinth of his own proliferating identity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

from “Clayfeld’s Farewell Epistle to Bob Pack”
 
            Beneath this mellow harvest moon,
I can still picture you—a boy content
just fishing with his father from a ledge
above a foaming stream. The flailing trout
you caught is packed in gleaming ice;
the pink stripe all along its side
is smeared across black shiny dots
that seem to shine with their own light.
            I’m sure that you can picture me
with equal vividness, and though we’re not
identical, there is a sense
in which I am inventing you
as much as you’re inventing me.
 
In Clayfeld Holds On, Robert Pack offers his readers a comprehensive portrait of his longtime protagonist Clayfeld, who is also Pack’s doppelgänger, his alternate self, enacting both the life that the poet has lived and the life he might have lived, given his proclivities and appetites. Poet and protagonist, taken together, are self and consciousness of self, the historical self and the embellished story of that literal self.
            Written with a masterly ear for rhythm, and interweaving narrative and lyrical passages, the poems recount Clayfeld’s formative memories while exploring concepts such as loyalty, generosity, commitment, as well as cosmic phenomena such as the big bang theory and black holes. Through all of this, Pack attempts to find purpose and meaning in an indifferent universe, and to explore the labyrinth of his own proliferating identity.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Fighting Financial Crises by Robert Pack
Cover of the book The Origins of Cool in Postwar America by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Freak Show by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Machiavelli on Liberty and Conflict by Robert Pack
Cover of the book The Bhagavadgita in the Mahabharata by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Aristotle's "Art of Rhetoric" by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Mama Might Be Better Off Dead by Robert Pack
Cover of the book The Politics of Dialogic Imagination by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Erring by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Democracy in America by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Music and Capitalism by Robert Pack
Cover of the book States of Terror by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Machines of Youth by Robert Pack
Cover of the book Tennis Science by Robert Pack
Cover of the book From Voice to Influence by Robert Pack
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy