Openwork: Poetry and Prose (The Margellos World Republic of Letters)

This book is astounding. I admire and adore the poetry of André du Bouchet.He is a fascinating poet.His mind is a wonder.His writing is very avant-garde.I love traveling with him through the white space.His use of white space on the page makes the ink of his text even more pronounced.More profound.It seemed to me that his use of white space gave room for the turbulence he was often expressing.The way André du Bouchet decides to add or leave out punctuation is intriguing to me.It feels like he either applies it or creates its absence with purpose,in order to craft a poem in a certain manner for a subtle yet bold effect.I love the sense of breath--of breathing in his work.Intriguing use of syntax.I find his use of fragments very appealing.Sometimes these accentuate his bleak view of the world.Other times it showcases his longing to feel grounded to earth.These are just my impressions.And I love the way his form and content make me feel. They inspire me!I will read this book again and perhaps update this review as I gain a stronger footing(and/or a looser more freeing sense of being) within his writing.I am always captivated by André du Bouchet's riveting work!I dearly wish more of his writing would be translated into English.**If any translators are reading this, please translateand publish more of his work for English readers!**Purchase this book and become spellbound by the words,the artistry and exceptional mind of André du Bouchet!**

This book is an absolute gem. An heirloom. The introduction, by Hoyt Rogers, is a small masterpiece. It manages to address key aspects of literature, poetry, art, literary criticism, bi-culturalism, trauma, exile and return, all while telling a gripping human story. It is so rich that one wants to read it over and over again -- like a full-year course in literature. The poems in the main body of the work are brilliantly selected and marvelously translated. For a reader like myself who is perfectly bi-lingual, there is as much pleasure reading the English versions as there is reading the French. I feel myself discover countless nuances in the French that I had not noticed before. It's as though A. du Bouchet's poems were amplified, doubled, by existing in the poet's (so to speak) other maternal language.. This is a book that stays by one's bedside - to be sipped like a great Cognac, to be enjoyed again and again for the depth it reveals and the solace it provides.