- Hardcover: 350 pages
- Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr (August 1991)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0941423522
- ISBN-13: 978-0941423526
- Product Dimensions: 21.3 x 14.5 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
In the introduction to this startling collection of "insane writings," Kurt Vonnegut makes the point that " creative people have thoughts unlike those of the general population." He adds that talent in writing must accompany those thoughts, as they do in these brilliant poems, essays, and stories by unique individuals who have been "culled" by society and who exist in institutions or under the label of "insane." From wordplay such as that of the Language poets to speculation on the meaning of life and chance, expression of alternative visions by previously unheard and unpublished writers makes the collection mind-expanding and very real.
From Publishers Weekly
In presenting these writings--all by individuals institutionalized for insanity--"for their intrinsic worth" rather than as "clues to someone's 'illness,' " the editors (Oakes is copublisher of Four Walls and Kennison is a freelance editor) take a bold step. They require readers to respond to these poems and prose pieces, written over the last 100 years in various countries, without assimilating them as aberrations. Given the profoundly strange uses of language that characterize most of them, the works make for demanding but mind-expanding reading. German Gustav Sievers's extraordinary essay conflates race and geography through profuse punning. The Black Sea, he explains, "linguistically lacked only an nstet roman on the end of Sea ( See ), in order to make the Blacks see ." Swiss writer Jules Doudin revels in Joycean variant spellings: "Ide bee blyged iff yoo cood spair a pockit hanker cheef." Doudin's translator, however, renders the work of Frenchman Sylvain Lecocq in suspiciously similar language. For two writers from different countries and times (Doudin wrote in 1927 and Lecocq in 1949) to share so idiosyncratic a style seems unlikely, and one wonders if this is not an instance of the assimilation the editors set out to avoid. Nonetheless, these documents provide a fascinating study of language's slippery relation to reality.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
to let be or to not let be: the prickly thorn of questing Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
to let be or to not let be: the prickly thorn of questing Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant insanity,
By A Customer
This review is from: In the Realms of the Unreal: Insane Writings (Hardcover)
Glimpses into the mind and souls of schizophrenics, who try and explain their realities through poetry. The absolute honesty of their position is startling, many of them stand firmly in their beliefs, while others do not know what is real and what is not. Some of the insanity starts to make sense as the reader is drawn into the thoughts of the authors.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant insanity,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: In the Realms of the Unreal: Insane Writings (Hardcover)
Glimpses into the mind and souls of schizophrenics, who try and explain their realities through poetry. The absolute honesty of their position is startling, many of them stand firmly in their beliefs, while others do not know what is real and what is not. Some of the insanity starts to make sense as the reader is drawn into the thoughts of the authors.
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