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Topsy-turvy
Paperback
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- Book Synopsis
- In his most expansive and unruly collection to date, the acclaimed poet Charles Bernstein gathers poems, both tiny and grand, that speak to a world turned upside down. Our time of "covidity," as Bernstein calls it in one of the book's most poignantly disarming works, is characterized in equal measure by the turbulence of both the body politic and the individual. Likewise, in Topsy-Turvy, novel and traditional forms jostle against one another: horoscopes, shanties, and elegies rub up against gags, pastorals, and feints; translations, songs, screenplays, and slapstick tangle deftly with commentaries, conundrums, psalms, and prayers. Though Bernstein's poems play with form, they incorporate a melancholy, even tragic, sensibility. This "cognitive dissidence," as Bernstein calls it, is reflected in a lyrically explosive mix of pathos, comedy, and wit, though the reader is kept guessing which is which at almost every turn. Topsy-Turvy includes an ode to the New York City subway and a memorial for Harpers Ferry hero Shields Green, along with collaborations with artists Amy Sillman and Richard Tuttle. This collection is also full of other voices: Pessoa, Geeshie Wiley, Friedrich Rückert, and Rimbaud; Carlos Drummond, Virgil, and Brian Ferneyhough; and even Caudio Amberian, an imaginary first-century aphorist. Bernstein didn't set out to write a book about the pandemic, but these poems, performances, and translations are oddly prescient, marking a path through dark times with a politically engaged form of aesthetic resistance: We must "Continue / on, as / before, as / after." The audio version of Topsy-Turvy is performed by the author.
- About The Author
- Charles Bernstein is the author of many books, including the poetry collections Topsy-Turvy and Near/Miss and the critical works The Kinds of Poetry I Want: Essays and Comedies and Pitch of Poetry, which are published by the University of Chicago Press. He won the 2019 Bollingen Prize and the 2025 America Award for lifetime contribution to international writing. Bernstein is distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature emeritus at University of Pennsylvania. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.
- Product Details
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- ISBN
- 9780226783604
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- The University of Chicago Press, (22 June 2021)
- Number of Pages
- 170
- Weight
- 313 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 229 x 152 x 23 mm
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