Southern Bookman

Princeton University Press publishes W.H. Auden's complete poems

The publication of W.H. Auden's complete poems is the summer's major literary event.

Princeton University Press' "The Complete Works of W.H. Auden: Poems, Volume I: 1927-1939" and "The Complete Works of W.H. Auden: Poems: Volume II:1940-1973" gather Auden's best-known poems as well as those never published, giving a complete history of each composition, including Auden's at times misguided corrections.

The volumes, which cost $60 each, include each of Auden's published collections, along with unfinished poems from his notebooks.

Edited by Auden's literary executor, Edward Mendelson, the poetry volumes finish Princeton's publication of Auden's complete works, including prose.

Washington Post critic Michael Dirda in an admiring review Thursday praises Auden's astonishing literary brilliance exhibited in Auden's poetry as it changed throughout his life.

From his early work inspired by T.S. Eliot to the emergence of his original voice to his more colloquial later poems, Auden displayed a perfect ear for English rhythms.

As Dirda says, the new collections show the entire range of Auden's achievement, supplanting the paperback edition of Auden's selected poems, also edited by Mendelson.

The two volumes will allow Auden lovers to trace the course of his poetic imagination, from youth to old age. Rediscovering well-known poems and discovering unfamiliar ones will give readers a deep understanding of Auden's work. Princeton University Press has given a rare gift to readers.

Emma Cline's "Pleasant Glen" redeems Paris Review's summer issue

The Paris Review now makes no distinction between short stories, essays and memoirs.

For some reason, the table of contents of the journal's summer issue placed all non-poetry writing under the rubric "prose."

Perhaps recently installed editor Emily Stokes issued a justification somewhere for the curious editorial decision, which equates fiction and non-fiction. Perhaps there's no difference anymore.

Whatever, I as usual found most of the journal's prose unreadable, except for interesting art of fiction interviews with the Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and American novelist and critic Sigrid Nunez.

I also was drawn by Darryl Pinckney's personal essay about the Sidney Poitier-Paul Newman jazz film noir "Paris Blues," directed by Martin Ritt and also starring Diahann Carroll and Newman's longtime wife Joanne Woodward, with a cameo appearance by Louis Armstrong.

In an overly involved piece, Pinckney recalls viewing the 1961 film as a young adolescent, awakening his sexual and artistic aspirations.

Emma Cline's thrilling short story "Pleasant Glen" at the end of the journal redeemed the issue. Displaying the mastery of her collection "Daddy: Stories," Cline in "Pleasant Glen" creates memorable characters, dialogue and scenes in an amusing/disturbing saga of Hollywood decadence.

Cline is one of the few writers of her generation whose short stories enthrall me like classics by John Updike, John Cheever, Thomas McGuane, Jean Stafford, Richard Yates and others.

Unfortunately, most of the stories published in today's literary journals make me think American writing's in decline.

 

"Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story" celebrates Crescent City's cultural jewel

The documentary "Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story" casts a shining light on the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, a crowning achievement for the dysfunctional, poverty-stricken city.

Directed by Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, the film focuses on the festival's 50th anniversary in 2019, before a two-year covid shutdown. The festival returned this spring.

Showing performances and commentary on the festival by a range of musicians, the film sees the festival as a culmination of the city's diverse cultural mix. 

Along with jazz, the festival showcases hip-hop, rhythm and blues, rock, gospel, folk and Cajun music.

Several years ago, the festival began offering performances by big-time acts like the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen.

Yet, the festival still strives to give attention to local and regional performers, as the film records with scenes from the festival's many musical tents and stages.

The film opens with a supercharged performance by Earth, Wind and Fire at the 2019 festival. Also shown are Pit Bull, Jimmy Buffett, Katy Perry - with a gospel choir - and others.

A heart-rending scene shows the late jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis performing with his famous sons Branford, Wynton and Delfeayo, one of the rare times the family played together. Ellis Marsalis was an early victim of the covid pandemic.

Tears will also flow at Springsteen’s 2006 performance at the first jazz festival following the city's devastation by Hurricane Katrina. Springsteen is shown with his acoustic guitar singing "My City in Ruins," leading the audience to a rousing affirmation of the city's resilient spirit.

Looking back to the festival's origins, the film interviews the late founder George Wein, who launched the New Orleans event after achieving success with the Newport Jazz Festival. Longtime jazz festival producer Quint Davis, who succeeded Wein, is the film's guiding spirit.

Local legends Irma Thomas, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the late Allen Toussaint make appearances, along with a new generation led by Trombone Shorty and hip-hop artists. The city's Mardi Gras indians display their gorgeous costumes.

Along with historic jazz festival performances, the film looks at the city's diverse musical culture, with a long sequence exploring the jazz funeral tradition. Marshall and Suffern also trace the origins of jazz and the blues in the city's slavery era, including the Congo Square slave market.

The festival also offers a sumptuous array of Louisiana food. The film looks at the regional cuisines that make the festival a major dining event.

Glossing over the city's poverty and high murder rate, the film presents the city as a major contributor to American culture, as reflected in the jazz fest.

The festival presents New Orleans at its best, a city of joy, community spirit and unbounded musical creativity. 

Anne Enright examines depths, beauty of James Joyce's "Ulysses"

James Joyce's "Ulysses" is a living presence for Irish writer Anne Enright.

Enright, who was born in in Dublin and unlike Joyce returned to the city, has written a series of brilliant analyses of Joyce's ground-breaking masterwork to mark this year's 100th anniversary of the modernist classic's publication.

Along with an introduction to a new Penguin Classics edition of the novel, Enright has written essays examining "Ulyssess"  for publications ranging from the Guardian to the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books. Her articles give a reliable, clear guide to Joyce's language, literary techniques and use of real Dublin people and city places.

In a recent piece in the London Review of Books, Enright retraces the journeys through Dublin of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom on June 16, 1904, the day in which the novel unfolds. She revisits Dublin places where the characters experience major moments, including Dublin's landmark Sandymount Strand, where two key scenes occur.

"Ulysses" lovers hope that Enright publishes a book based on her essays. As a lifelong Dubliner and perceptive writer, she understands Joyce's deep love for his native city, from which he was exiled.

John Milton's life gives comfort for troubled era

During my convalescence from knee surgery, I've been thinking about John Milton.

The English author of "Paradise Lost" and a landmark essay supporting freedom of speech lived in a time of political turmoil rivaling ours. Milton supported the revolution that brought the death of King Charles I and served Oliver Cromwell's republic.

After the restoration of King Charles II, Milton was an outlaw, serving time in jail. After a general pardon of those who had participated in regicide, the blind Milton returned to his home to write "Paradise Lost," "Paradise Regained" and "Samson Agonistes," dictating his blank verse epics to secretaries.

Reviews of two new Milton biographies, "Making Darkness Light: A Life of John Milton" by Joe Moshenska and "Poet of Revolution: The Making of John Milton" by Nicholas McDowell, rekindled by interest in Milton, whose work I read as a college English major.

Milton's tumultuous life leading to the triumph of "Paradise Lost" gave me solace during the grueling knee rehab  and my distress at New York Times stories about the Great Salt Lake disappearing, the ravaging of the Central Africa rainforest, wildfires and drought. The Jan. 6 committee hearings eerily echoed Milton's times.

My college "Norton Anthology of English Literature" is one of my life treasures. As the heat soars, I'll once again take the old book from the shelf and read Milton, John Donne, Shakespeare, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert and other poets.

Their words give hope that virtue will prevail in the end.

 

 

 

Notes from rehab

Nearly three weeks after knee replacement surgery, normal life is slowly returning.

Thanks to the resolute support of my wife and family, I've completed the first stage of rehab. After a regimen of home visits from competent  and cheerful physical therapists, I'll switch to outpatient work next week. My steady progress so far encourages me for the hard months to follow.

In between exercises - the old squats, leg lifts and calf raises along with new stretches and bends - I've kept reading newspapers, magazines and books while watching “Law and Order” and “Andy Griffith” reruns on TV.  The Braves winning streak helped ease the pain.

My young neighbors brightened a couple of days, bringing me a handmade-card, a home-grown cucumber and banana bread. Friends and sisters sent encouraging messages and cards.

Walking's one of those gifts I took for granted. Now, with the help of a cane, I'm relearning how to place one foot after another, bend my knee, land on my heel.

I'm thankful for each step across the floor.