{"product_id":"to-go-into-the-words-9780472039418","title":"To Go Into the Words","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe latest book of critical prose from renowned poet and scholar of Jewish literature Norman Finkelstein. Through a rigorous examination of contemporary poetry, poetics, and poets like Helen Adam, Nathaniel Mackey, Donald Revel, and more, the text exhibits a poetic fascination with transcendence and radical delight at language.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“For decades, Norman Finkelstein has mined the deep interiority of fellow poets for whom writing extends beyond creative expression and cultural commentary into the realm of the spirit. In \u003ci\u003eTo Go into the Words\u003c\/i\u003e, he continues his groundbreaking work by exploring the visionary poetics of writers as varied as Helen Adam, Michael Palmer, and Nathaniel Mackey. What makes this book—and Finkelstein’s work as a whole—stand out is that in chapter after chapter we see the Philosopher’s Stone being polished by someone who knows that the most engaging criticism is, in fact, a form of celebration.”—Derek Pollard, Founder of Constellar Creative\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Finkelstein, one of our most perceptive poet-critics, gives us masterful readings of important contemporary poets in essays that integrate his decades-long conversation with their work. The last sections examine the gnostic impulse in poetry and commentary of secular Jewish poets, including Finkelstein himself, that leads them, through language, to ‘circle around some. . . absent center which still has compelling power.’”—Elizabeth T. Gray Jr. is a poet, translator, and corporate consultant. Her most recent book of poetry is \u003ci\u003eSalient \u003c\/i\u003e(New Directions 2020).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“We approach truth, said Gershom Scholem, not by systems but by commentary. In these essays on an array of poets ranging from William Bronk to Nathaniel Mackey, Norman Finkelstein provides commentary informed by a host of systems—deconstruction, the New Criticism, Freudian psychoanalysis, Marxian materialism, and more. Standing above them all is the idea of gnosis, the quest for insight into who we are and who we might become. And, in Finkelstein’s comments on midrash, we find the best commentary yet on Finkelstein’s own poetry. Open this book and open the world.”—Robert Archambau, author of \u003ci\u003ePoetry and Uselessness from Coleridge to Ashbery\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAlice B. Toklas is Missing\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eAcknowledgments \u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWilliam Bronk\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eHelen Adam\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRonald Johnson\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMichael Palmer\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNathaniel Mackey\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePaul Bray\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLawrence Joseph\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTotal Midrash\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSecular Jewish Culture and Its Radical Poetic Discontents\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe Master of Turning\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"The University of Michigan Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49903689171287,"sku":"9780472039418","price":27.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780472039418.jpg?v=1738182639","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/to-go-into-the-words-9780472039418","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}