Theories and Apparitions
  • Published: 15 October 2008
  • ISBN: 9780224085281
  • Imprint: Jonathan Cape
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 64
  • RRP: $29.99

Theories and Apparitions

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The latest collection of poetry by the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize and author of the critically-acclaimed My Alexandria.

In this, his eighth book of poetry, Mark Doty's subjects - our mortal situation, the evanescent beauty of the world, desire's transformative power and poetry's ability to give shape to human lives - echo and develop. The first poem, 'Pipistrelle', is a typically eloquent disquisition on the art of communication prompted by the flight of a bat - 'an inky signature too fast to trace' - and is followed by an extraordinary series of meditations and variations on this theme.

The poet listens to cicadas, to Handel, to the calling of birds, to Juan the loquacious Mexican taxi driver; he steeps himself in the colour and incident of the streets and subways of New York City; he goes for a never-ending chi-gong massage and is visited by the shades of Berryman and Whitman.

As the images accumulate and cohere, guided by Doty's unique style - both plainspoken and sophisticated, both wry and profound - we arrive at a new understanding of the way we live and the world we live in. He shows us what we love and its magnificent fragility - that 'the house of beauty is a house of flames' - and we see, once again, why he is regarded as one of America's most recognisable and most significant poets.
  • Published: 15 October 2008
  • ISBN: 9780224085281
  • Imprint: Jonathan Cape
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 64
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

Mark Doty

Mark Doty is the author of more than ten volumes of poetry and three memoirs. His many honours include the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for First Nonfiction, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Lila Wallace–Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, and, in the UK, the T. S. Eliot Prize. He is a professor at Rutgers University and lives in New York City.

portrait photo of Mark Doty

Also by Mark Doty

What is the Grass
Deep Lane
Dog Years
Firebird
Heaven's Coast
My Alexandria
See all

Praise for Theories and Apparitions

A new book of poems - or of anything - by Mark Doty is good news in a dark time. The precision, daring, scope, elegance of his compassion and of the language in which he embodies it are a reassuring pleasure

W.S. Mervin

Moving, splendidly observant, and unflinching, Mark Doty's poems extend the range of the American lyric poem

American Academy of Arts and Letters

Doty's impressive range of gifts are all on show here

Guardian

Doty's new collection is immensely enjoyable, and as technically rich as ever

Times Literary Supplement

Doty's ability to meditate on the profound moments in life that co-exist in seemingly mundane situations is inspirational

Aesthetica

Succinct and moving... Effortlessly done, condensing his soul searching into neat and beautiful soundbites

The List
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