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Indexical Elegies

By Jon Paul Fiorentino
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3.55 goodreads logo

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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Indexical Elegies by Jon Paul Fiorentino is a spirited collection of poems that delve into anxiety shaped by place, influence, and loss. Drawing from Derrida's thoughts on memory and Peirce's semiotics, the work challenges the limitations and necessities of language while weaving together narrative fragments that are at once comic, elegiac, and philosophically rich.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This collection is ideal for readers interested in contemporary poetry that intertwines philosophy, language, and emotional depth, particularly those who appreciate experimental and intellectually stimulating verse.

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Jon Paul Fiorentino's new collection is a whip-smart poetic investigation of anxiety in all its many manifestations.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

With links to intense poetic works like John Berryman's Dream Songs, Gilbert Sorrentino's Corrosive Sublimate, and Erin Moure's Furious, Jon Paul Fiorentino's new collection is a whip-smart poetic investigation of anxiety in all its many manifestations. Anxiety caused by geography, anxieties of influence, and looming worries about loss inform the poems as they weave narrative threads and associations that highlight both the treachery of language and its necessity in shaping human experience: 'All roads, side roads/all text, signage/All seasons, autumn/ all memories, winter.'

The poems here build on Derrida's ideas about the psychological implications of memory and the archival impulse and on philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce's semiotics of 'the index.' Indexical Elegies is a rich, emotionally charged work that showcases Fiorentino's talents at their feisty, engaged best. From its Post-Prairie pamphleteering and its comic Montreal musings to its moving elegies, this is provocative poetry that never loses touch with the reader's pleasure.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Quill and Quire praises Fiorentino's sharp wit and unique vocabulary. The Montreal Review of Books highlights the book's remarkable power through its exploration of language via puns and aphorisms. Canadian Literature notes the diverse, playful styles attentive to sound and form, marking Fiorentino's poetic skill at its most engaged.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781552452349

Publisher: Coach House Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 19 October 2006

Country: Canada

Imprint: Coach House Books

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 203.0mm

Weight: 127g

Pages: 80

Collections

Arts & Culture General Fiction Jon Paul Fiorentino Literary Fiction Non-Fiction

About the Author

Jon Paul Fiorentino isthe author of thenovel Stripmalling, which was shortlisted for theParagraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and three poetry collections, including The Theory of the Loser Class, which was shortlisted for the A. M. KleinPrize. He lives in Montreal, where he teaches writing at Concordia University, edits Matrix magazine and runs Snare Books.

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