Nefertiti in the Flak Tower: Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, British & Irish
Cover of the book Nefertiti in the Flak Tower: Poems by Clive James, Liveright
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Clive James ISBN: 9780871407290
Publisher: Liveright Publication: October 28, 2013
Imprint: Liveright Language: English
Author: Clive James
ISBN: 9780871407290
Publisher: Liveright
Publication: October 28, 2013
Imprint: Liveright
Language: English

“Clive James is more or less the only living poet who manages to be both entertaining and moving.”—Edward Mendelson

Clive James’s renown as an internationally celebrated poet continues to expand, and there is no stronger evidence for this than Nefertiti in the Flak Tower, a collection “steeped in the lessons of Philip Larkin and W.B. Yeats” (London Times). Here, his polymathic learning and technical virtuosity are worn more lightly than ever; the effect is to produce a deep sense of trust into which the reader gratefully sinks, knowing they are in the presence of a master. The most obvious token of that mastery is the book’s breathtaking range of theme: there are moving elegies, a meditation on the later Yeats, a Hollywood Iliad, and odes to rare orchids, wartime typewriters, and sharks—as well as a poem on the fate of Queen Nefertiti in Nazi Germany.

Despite the dizzying variety, James’s poetic intention becomes increasingly clear: what marks this new collection is his intensified concentration on the individual poem as a self-contained universe. Poetry is a practice he compares (in “Numismatics”) to striking new coin, and Nefertiti in the Flak Tower is a treasure chest of one-off marvels, with each poem a twin-sided, perfect human balance of the unashamedly joyous and the deadly serious, “whose play of light pays tribute to the dark.”

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

“Clive James is more or less the only living poet who manages to be both entertaining and moving.”—Edward Mendelson

Clive James’s renown as an internationally celebrated poet continues to expand, and there is no stronger evidence for this than Nefertiti in the Flak Tower, a collection “steeped in the lessons of Philip Larkin and W.B. Yeats” (London Times). Here, his polymathic learning and technical virtuosity are worn more lightly than ever; the effect is to produce a deep sense of trust into which the reader gratefully sinks, knowing they are in the presence of a master. The most obvious token of that mastery is the book’s breathtaking range of theme: there are moving elegies, a meditation on the later Yeats, a Hollywood Iliad, and odes to rare orchids, wartime typewriters, and sharks—as well as a poem on the fate of Queen Nefertiti in Nazi Germany.

Despite the dizzying variety, James’s poetic intention becomes increasingly clear: what marks this new collection is his intensified concentration on the individual poem as a self-contained universe. Poetry is a practice he compares (in “Numismatics”) to striking new coin, and Nefertiti in the Flak Tower is a treasure chest of one-off marvels, with each poem a twin-sided, perfect human balance of the unashamedly joyous and the deadly serious, “whose play of light pays tribute to the dark.”

More books from Liveright

Cover of the book Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present by Clive James
Cover of the book Arturo's Island: A Novel by Clive James
Cover of the book Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found by Clive James
Cover of the book The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport by Clive James
Cover of the book The Last Summer of the Camperdowns: A Novel by Clive James
Cover of the book The Stone Reader: Modern Philosophy in 133 Arguments by Clive James
Cover of the book A Family of Noblemen : The Gentlemen Golovliov by Clive James
Cover of the book Local Souls by Clive James
Cover of the book Tulips and Chimneys by Clive James
Cover of the book The Late Parade: Poems by Clive James
Cover of the book The Second Coming of the KKK: The Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s and the American Political Tradition by Clive James
Cover of the book On Hobbes: Escaping the War of All Against All (Liveright Classics) by Clive James
Cover of the book The Last Days of California: A Novel by Clive James
Cover of the book Sweetland: A Novel by Clive James
Cover of the book George Orwell: A Life in Letters by Clive James
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