The Night Sky - by Ann Lauterbach (Paperback)

About the Book

At the center of this new book are a series of seven essays, originally written in the mid-1990s, which engage the interstices between poetics, politics, and memoir.

Book Synopsis

A scintillating collection of essays on language from one of literature's most supple minds

In The Night Sky, her first work of essays, acclaimed poet Ann Lauterbach writes of the ways in which art and poetry are integral and necessary to human conversation. At the center of the book is a series of seven essays, by turns meditative and polemical, that articulate the interstices between Lauterbach's poetics and her experience. She advocates an active encounter with language, at once imaginative and practical, and argues for the importance of art to the well- being of a democratic society. Lauterbach's "nimble and glittering" (Booklist) writings bring us to a new understanding of the relationship between self-knowledge and cultural meaning, as well as demonstrating the ways in which contemporary philosophy and theory might be integrated with practical knowledge.

Review Quotes

"Showcases the subtle and philosophical work of a rarified yet captivating poet."
-Booklist

"To read The Night Sky is to take a privileged walk with a beautifully intellectual poet through the garden of poetry."
-Beloit Poetry Journal

About the Author

Ann Lauterbach is Ruth and David Schwab III Professor of Language and Literature at Bard College. Her work has received fellowship support from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine C. MacArthur Foundation. She has published six collections of poetry, including If in Time: Selected Poems 1975-2000.