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ISBN: PB: 9780300248630

ISBN: HB: 9780300226089

Yale University Press

January 2020

232 pp.

21x14 cm

PB:
£14,99
QTY:
HB:
£18,99
QTY:

Categories:

Joy

100 Poems

Christian Wiman, a poet known for his meditations on mortality, has long been fascinated by joy and by its relative absence in modern literature. Why is joy so resistant to language? How has it become so suspect in our times? Manipulated by advertisers, religious leaders, and politicians, joy can seem disquieting, even offensive. How does one speak of joy amid such ubiquitous injustice and suffering in the world?

In this revelatory anthology, Wiman takes readers on a profound and surprising journey through some of the most underexplored terrain in contemporary life. Rather than define joy for readers, he wants them to experience it. Ranging from Emily Dickinson to Mahmoud Darwish and from Sylvia Plath to Wendell Berry, he brings together diverse and provocative works as a kind of counter to the old, modernist maxim "light writes white" – no agony, no art. His rich selections awaken us to the essential role joy plays in human life.

About the Author

Christian Wiman is the author of numerous books, including "My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer". He is Professor of the Practice of Religion and Literature at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

Reviews

"This is an original, necessary, and illuminating book: it shines a light on an often overlooked aspect of poetry, and on Wiman's own work, too" – Paul Elie, author of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own and Reinventing Bach"

"This bold anthology provides readers with a wealth of reflection and insight on the epiphanies, large and small, that help give meaning to our lives. These poems remind us that joy is deep, and necessary" – Kathleen Norris, author of "Acedia & Me and Journey: New & Selected Poems"

"The force of this wonderful collection (and the wonderful introductory essay) is the recognition that joy cannot be argued away. In the centre of our human nightmares something opens and flowers, completely unreasonably, completely undeniably. That is what is celebrated here" – Rowan Williams, theologian and poet (Cambridge)

"Joy is an indispensable collection that will buoy up the darkest reader. Truly, Christian Wiman is a genius to have ranged so far (and deep!) to gather in one spot so many unforgettable poems to convince this glum bunny there's more light than dark in our wiggly world" – Mary Karr, author of "The Liars' Club, Lit, and Sinners Welcome"