Description
Book SynopsisBest known as one of the most significant poets of the 20th century, Louis Zukofsky was also an accomplished writer of fiction, all of which is collected here for the first time. Included is his only novel, "Little" (1970), which John Leonard in the "New York Times" called "an odd, playful, thoroughly charming novel about a child prodigy." (The novel is very autobiographical and Zukofsky's son, violin virtuoso, Paul Zukofsky, has written an afterword for this edition.) Also included are the four stories comprising "It Was," published in 1961 in a limited edition and virtually unobtainable for years. The stories range from the brief title story in which a writer struggles with the composition of the perfect sentence to the novella length "Ferdinand," which Guy Davenport praised in the "New York Times Book Review" as "a finely tuned story from a sensibility of extraordinary range and skill."
Trade Review"Zukofsky is best known as a leader of the Objectivist movement and author of A (Univ. of California Pr., 1978), perhaps the most neglected major poem of the 20th century. This collection reprints the novella Little, a thinly veiled portrait of Zukofsky's son, Paul, a child prodigy violinist, and four additional works: "It Was," "A Keystone Comedy," "Ferdinhand," and "Thanks to the Dictionary." Zukofsky's prose is as carefully wrought as his poems. His playful use of language and his attention to the sound, tone, and rhythm of words lend his prose a rich, poetic density. The publication of these works, long out of print and, for the most part, previously available only in limited editions, is a welcome event. Recommended for contemporary literature collections." -- Library Journal
