Sentenced to Life

"There is an inevitable sadness to this moving collection. This being James, there are also moments of zinging energy and a sense of fun…James will remain in the present tense as those Japanese Maple's leaves continue to turn to flame." —Rebecca K. Morrison,IndependentIn this new collection of "technically and emotionally heart-stopping poems" (Spectator)—including "Japanese Maple," which was published in The New Yorker to great acclaim—Clive James looks back over an extraordinarily rich life with a clear-eyed and unflinching honesty. There are regrets but no trace of self-pity in these verses, which—for all their grappling with death and his current illness—are primarily a celebration of what is treasurable and memorable in our time here.Again and again, James reminds us that he is not only a poet of effortless wit and lyric accomplishment but also an immensely wise one, who delights in using poetic form to bring a razor-sharp focus to his thought. Miraculously, these poems see James writing with his insight and energy not only undiminished but positively charged by his situation. The poems of Sentenced to Life represents a career high point from one of the greatest literary intellects of our age.

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Sentenced to Life

"There is an inevitable sadness to this moving collection. This being James, there are also moments of zinging energy and a sense of fun…James will remain in the present tense as those Japanese Maple's leaves continue to turn to flame." —Rebecca K. Morrison,IndependentIn this new collection of "technically and emotionally heart-stopping poems" (Spectator)—including "Japanese Maple," which was published in The New Yorker to great acclaim—Clive James looks back over an extraordinarily rich life with a clear-eyed and unflinching honesty. There are regrets but no trace of self-pity in these verses, which—for all their grappling with death and his current illness—are primarily a celebration of what is treasurable and memorable in our time here.Again and again, James reminds us that he is not only a poet of effortless wit and lyric accomplishment but also an immensely wise one, who delights in using poetic form to bring a razor-sharp focus to his thought. Miraculously, these poems see James writing with his insight and energy not only undiminished but positively charged by his situation. The poems of Sentenced to Life represents a career high point from one of the greatest literary intellects of our age.

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Sentenced to Life

Sentenced to Life

by Clive James
Sentenced to Life

Sentenced to Life

by Clive James

Hardcover

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Overview

"There is an inevitable sadness to this moving collection. This being James, there are also moments of zinging energy and a sense of fun…James will remain in the present tense as those Japanese Maple's leaves continue to turn to flame." —Rebecca K. Morrison,IndependentIn this new collection of "technically and emotionally heart-stopping poems" (Spectator)—including "Japanese Maple," which was published in The New Yorker to great acclaim—Clive James looks back over an extraordinarily rich life with a clear-eyed and unflinching honesty. There are regrets but no trace of self-pity in these verses, which—for all their grappling with death and his current illness—are primarily a celebration of what is treasurable and memorable in our time here.Again and again, James reminds us that he is not only a poet of effortless wit and lyric accomplishment but also an immensely wise one, who delights in using poetic form to bring a razor-sharp focus to his thought. Miraculously, these poems see James writing with his insight and energy not only undiminished but positively charged by his situation. The poems of Sentenced to Life represents a career high point from one of the greatest literary intellects of our age.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781631491726
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date: 01/11/2016
Pages: 80
Product dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Born in Australia, Clive James lives in Cambridge, England. He is the author of Unreliable Memoirs; a volume of selected poems, Opal Sunset; the best-selling Cultural Amnesia; and the translator of The Divine Comedy by Dante. He has written for the New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic. He is an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Table of Contents

Sentenced to Life 1

Driftwood Houses 3

Landfall 4

Early to Bed 6

My Home 7

Holding Court 8

Procedure for Disposal 10

Manly Ferry 11

Tempe Dump 13

Living Doll 14

Event Horizon 15

Nature Programme 17

Managing Anger 18

Echo Point 20

Too Much Light 21

My Latest Fever 22

The Emperor's Last Words 24

Compendium Catullianum 26

Bugsy Siegel's Flying Eye 27

Only the Immortal Need Apply 29

Plot Points 30

One Elephant, Two Elephant 32

Asma Unpacks Her Pretty Clothes 36

Nina Kogan's Geometrical Heaven 38

Star System 40

Change of Domicile 42

Rounded with a Sleep 43

Elementary Sonnet 45

Leçons de ténèbres 46

Winter Plums 47

Spring Snow Dancer 48

Mysterious Arrival of the Dew 49

Cabin Baggage 50

Transit Visa 51

Japanese Maple 53

Balcony Scene 54

Sunset Hails a Rising 56

A Note on the Text 59

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