News

George Hart Publishes New Jeffers Study

Congratulations to George Hart on the publication of Inventing the Language to Tell It: Robinson Jeffers and the Biology of Consciousness.  James Karman, editor of The Collected Letters of Robinson Jeffers writes, “The mind–body problem, faced anew by the best thinkers in every age, grew ever more complex in the twentieth century as a result of revolutionary discoveries in biology and physics.  As George Hart demonstrates in this brilliant, original, and essential book, no modern poet probed the mystery of consciousness more deeply than Robinson Jeffers, whose “sacramental materialism” outpaced even the boldest conjectures of neuroscience.” Tim Hunt, editor of The Collected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers writes,  “George Hart’s Inventing the Language to Tell It develops a significant new paradigm for engaging the poetry of Robinson Jeffers.  By treating the central puzzle in Jeffers, the nature of consciousness, as a biological and environmental matter rather than a philosophical or psychological one, he clarifies the nature of Jeffers’ modernity, defines its significance both for an understanding of Anglo American poetry in the first half of the 20-Century, and establishes its continued significance for the dynamics of environmental literature.”  For more information go to the Fordham Press website. You can preview the book at BN.com.

RJA’s David J. Rothman Publishes Two New Books of Poems

David J. Rothman, Immediate Past President of RJA,  recently published two new books of poetry. The Book of Catapults, from White Violet Press, and Part of the Darkness, from Entasis are available on Amazon.com. Of the former, poet Chris Ransick writes, “These poems disarm me. I come to them like any reader might, ‘bowing to the terrible world,’ only to find Rothman whispering ‘Now you must give up those cares for charms.’ Through it all, these fine poems set me to shivering with recognition and laughing aloud at the many and varied ways the poet turns his wry plow at the end of a line’s furrow. Rothman has tremendous control of music, tone, and angle of approach to his subjects, proof ‘A man knows how to sing/when he has to.'”  Of the latter, poet Dana Gioia writes,  “What impresses one first about David J. Rothman is his immense imaginative and intellectual range, but the more one reads his striking and exuberant poetry the more deeply one feels its emotional force and quiet but genuine ferocity. He is an Apollonian touched by the divine madness of Dionysus. Diverse, demanding, and delightful, his poems abundantly reward the reader’s attention.”  Click here to purchase The Book of Catapults and here to purchase Part of the Darkness.