Carcanet Press - A Village Life

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Around the fountain, there are clusters of metal tables.
this is where you sit when you're old,
beyond the intensities of the fountain.
The fountain is for the young, who still want to look at themselves.
Or for the mothers, who need to keep their children diverted.

In good weather, a few old people linger at the tables.
Life is simple now: one day cognac, one day coffee and a cigarette.
To the couples, it's clear who's on the outskirts of life, who's at the center.

from 'Tributaries'

From a fountain where 'all the roads in the village unite', concentric circles expand into the distance: the young and old, fields, a river, a mountain – the fountain's stone counterpart, where the roads end, human time superimposed on geological time. Renowned as a lyrical poet of austere intensity, in A Village Life Louise Glück evokes a Mediterranean world with luminous precision. Her focus is on moments of speculation and reflection in a dreamlike present tense.

Cover image: Print by unknown artist, c. 1930, from the Robert O. Muller collection. Cover design: StephenRaw.com

Contents

Twilight
Pastoral
Tributaries
Noon
Before the Storm
Sunset
In the Café
In the Plaza
Dawn
First Snow
Earthworm
At the River
A Corridor
Fatigue
Burning Leaves
Walking at Night
Via delle Ombre
Hunters
A Slip of Paper
Bats
Burning Leaves
March 36

A Night in Spring
Harvest
Confession
Marriage
Primavera
Figs
At the dance
Solitude
Earthworm
Olive trees
Sunrise
A Warm Day
Burning Leaves
Crossroads
Bats
Abundance
Midsummer
Threshing
A Village Life
Note

Louise Gluck was born in 1943 in New York and grew up on Long Island. She started her teaching career in 1971 at Goddard College, Vermont. At present she is a Professor at Williams College and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of eleven books of poems and a ... read more

After years of writing her own distinct poetry with little or no favourable recognition from critics, Louise Gluck finally did, as she herself relates, 'return from oblivion/ to find a voice'. read more

When I tell you that Louise Gluck's A Village Life is a book of poems set in a quietly dying agricultural community, probably in Italy, probably some time between the 1950s and today, and thats its plots - for it works very much like a collection of linked short stories - revolve around sexual awakening, farm work and old men gossiping in cafes, you will no doubt think: wistful, polite, conservative, the poetic equivalent of a landscape done in watercolour. read more

The beauty of Louise Gluck's image-making and her icily lucid voice fascinate and repel. read more

Louise Gluck, who was born in New York in 1943, and teahces at Yale as the Rosencratz Writer in Residence, has published 11 collections of poetry, including The Triumph of Achilles (1985), The Wild Iris (1992), for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, and Meadowlands (1996). read more

Set in a village somewhere in the western Mediterranean sometime in the last 50 years, Louise Glück's captivating 11th collection is full of spacious, carefully balanced monologues and narratives. read more

The Irish Times 'Around the fountain, in the right room' by Enda Wyley LOUISE GLÜCK’S 12th collection, A Village Life , is a striking departure in form from her usual spare, chiselled style – instead relying upon longer lines and a Spoon River -like narrative coherence to achieve an impressive novelistic effect. read more

Spring 2010 � Conversational Tones Modern American poetry often seems to have an assured, inconsequential sense of drift unavailable to English writers. read more

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A Village Life Louise Gluck RRP: GBP£ 9.95 Discount: 10% You Save: GBP£ 0.99 Price: GBP£ 8.96 Available Paperback ISBN: 978 1 847770 59 2 Categories: 21st Century, American, Women Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Published: May 2010 216 x 135 mm 80 pages Publisher: Carcanet Press Description Excerpt Author Contents Reviews Around the fountain, there are clusters of metal tables. this is where you sit when you're old, beyond the intensities of the fountain. The fountain is for the young, who still want to look at themselves. Or for the mothers, who need to keep their children diverted. In good weather, a few old people linger at the tables. Life is simple now: one day cognac, one day coffee and a cigarette. To the couples, it's clear who's on the outskirts of life, who's at the center. from 'Tributaries' From a fountain where 'all the roads in the village unite', concentric circles expand into the distance: the young and old, fields, a river, a mountain – the fountain's stone counterpart, where the roads end, human time superimposed on geological time. Renowned as a lyrical poet of austere intensity, in A Village Life Louise Glück evokes a Mediterranean world with luminous precision. Her focus is on moments of speculation and reflection in a dreamlike present tense. Cover image: Print by unknown artist, c. 1930, from the Robert O. Muller collection. Cover design: StephenRaw.com Contents Twilight Pastoral Tributaries Noon Before the Storm Sunset In the Café In the Plaza Dawn First Snow Earthworm At the River A Corridor Fatigue Burning Leaves Walking at Night Via delle Ombre Hunters A Slip of Paper Bats Burning Leaves March 36 A Night in Spring Harvest Confession Marriage Primavera Figs At the dance Solitude Earthworm Olive trees Sunrise A Warm Day Burning Leaves Crossroads Bats Abundance Midsummer Threshing A Village Life Note Louise Gluck was born in 1943 in New York and grew up on Long Island. She started her teaching career in 1971 at Goddard College, Vermont. At present she is a Professor at Williams College and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of eleven books of poems and a ... read more After years of writing her own distinct poetry with little or no favourable recognition from critics, Louise Gluck finally did, as she herself relates, 'return from oblivion/ to find a voice'. read more When I tell you that Louise Gluck's A Village Life is a book of poems set in a quietly dying agricultural community, probably in Italy, probably some time between the 1950s and today, and thats its plots - for it works very much like a collection of linked short stories - revolve around sexual awakening, farm work and old men gossiping in cafes, you will no doubt think: wistful, polite, conservative, the poetic equivalent of a landscape done in watercolour. read more The beauty of Louise Gluck's image-making and her icily lucid voice fascinate and repel. read more Louise Gluck, who was born in New York in 1943, and teahces at Yale as the Rosencratz Writer in Residence, has published 11 collections of poetry, including The Triumph of Achilles (1985), The Wild Iris (1992), for which she won a Pulitzer Prize, and Meadowlands (1996). read more Set in a village somewhere in the western Mediterranean sometime in the last 50 years, Louise Glück's captivating 11th collection is full of spacious, carefully balanced monologues and narratives. read more The Irish Times 'Around the fountain, in the right room' by Enda Wyley LOUISE GLÜCK’S 12th collection, A Village Life , is a striking departure in form from her usual spare, chiselled style – instead relying upon longer lines and a Spoon River -like narrative coherence to achieve an impressive novelistic effect. read more Spring 2010 � Conversational Tones Modern American poetry often seems to have an assured, inconsequential sense of drift unavailable to English writers. read more	Share this... Quick Links Aspects of Portugal Audio Books Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Carcanet Poetry Comma Press FyfieldBooks Lintott Press Lives and Letters OxfordPoets PN Review Sheep Meadow Press The Carcanet Blog Richard Price: A Month in Portugal read more Let's Gimbal! read more Carcanet New Poetry Showcase: The Audience Writes Back read more John Gallas: A Little Andaluciad read more Carcanet Poetry Showcase: 30th April read more The Manchester Writing Competition 2013 read more
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