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Beyond This Dark House [Hardcover]

Guy Gavriel Kay
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 15 2003
Before Guy Gavriel Kay became known for his groundbreaking works of speculative fiction, establishing himself as one of the world's most respected writers in that genre, he was an accomplished poet, his work appearing in major literary journals such as The Antigonish Review and Prism. Through the years, while writing his dramatic international bestsellers, Kay has continued to quietly explore the paths and boundaries of poetry as well.

Now for the first time, Guy Gavriel Kay's poetry has been gathered and selected for publication. For those familiar with his fiction, the poems in Beyond This Dark House will resonate for their linguistic and emotional nuances and their mythologi-cal allusions, echoing and illuminating themes of his fiction.

But readers of contemporary poetry will also be captivated by the exquisite craft and power of these poems. Some are ironic and austere, slyly tracing the interplay of writer and world, present and past; others are sensual, even erotic, charting the mercurial but abiding nature of passion-in love, in language, in history.


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This first collection of poems by well-known fantasy writer Guy Gavriel Kay (Sailing to Sarantium, The Lions of Al-Rassan) is a mix of personal lyrics, travel poems, longer narrative pieces, and poems that reference various historical myths, especially those of ancient Greece. Many of the lyric poems concern Kay's relationships and separations. They are lightly emotive and at times bordering on the sentimental. The longer poems are somewhat stronger, especially the lovely, sad opening piece, which concerns a visit to Winnipeg, his childhood hometown, where "each address marks a grave" and his long-dead father has "more and more long years of being gone / still to come." The poems of travel are set in places such as Greece, Croatia, London, Cornwall, and Wales, and although they are poems of near and far, they always strike a personal note, being more about the poet's state of mind than the view from a window.

Part 3, which includes most of the mythological poems, is a classical forest of proper names that will send the reader back to Bulfinch's Mythology to seek clarification on Orpheus, Medea, Psyche, and others. The author is capable of some fine lines: "A song of loss . . . to bend the starlight / streaming to the world" and "He thrills to the tight hum / of the right words coming." Too often, though, the poems disappear into the personal and lack heightened language or complex rhythms. When Kay gets the tone right, however, with the perfect amount of low-key sentiment, sadness, or ebullience, as in his longer poems, the result can be engaging. --Mark Frutkin

Review

. . . Kay has a gift . . . reading his poetry is like lifting a seashell to one’s ear and hearing the distant echo of the ocean where it was born. -- Alma A. Hromic, SF Site, May 5, 2003

. . . these poems celebrate imaginative connection: to people, to place, and to both private and cultural history. -- Winnipeg Free Press, March 23, 2003

Kay’s images are translucent, his poetry modern in form and yet with an instinctive in innate classicism which speaks to me. -- Alma A. Hromic, SF Site, May 5, 2003

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Master of the craft Jan 26 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Guy's poetry has long been read in short pieces during reading of his long novels. For the first time many of his poems are laid out for the reader. He is a master craftsman.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Who's the idiot who wrote, "the book had a nausighating plot and horrible character developement. The book was just a mish-mash of quantitative trash. Please, for the good of the human race"

This is a book of poetry, for heaven's sake. Poetry isn't supposed to have a plot or characters. And by the way, "quantitative" means numerical, as in scientific. So you're completely wrong on both counts.

It's a fine book.

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0 of 37 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars horrific April 15 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
the book had a nausighating plot and horrible character developement. The book was just a mish-mash of quantitative trash. Please, for the good of the human race, DON'T READ THIS BOOK!
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