“Persuasive” Woman Drinking Absinthe explores “Illicit Love” in New Review from Compulsive Reader
Charles Rammelkamp delivers a witty and erudite review of Katherine E. Young's opus.
In his new review of Katherine E. Young's Woman Drinking Absinthe, Charles Rammelkamp delivers a write-up worthy of its subject. With careful erudition, and no lack of wit, he mines Katherine's beautiful and heartbreaking poesy about "illicit love" for words of affirmation.
"Love, indeed, is the overarching theme of this remarkable collection," writes Charles. And he shows how this recurring theme speaks throughout the book, pointing to the "conflict between marriage and desire," in the early poems, the link between "sex and violence" in poems like "Bluebeard," and the "demimonde of women in the midst of affairs of the heart" as in "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" and many others.
In these depictions, Charles writes that, "Woman Drinking Absinthe is unflinchingly honest and lyrical."
Read the entire review here.
University of DC Jazz Forum: A Conversation with Reuben Jackson
In this video from the UDC Jazz Forum, jazz scholar, Reuben Jackson, sits down with historian, Rusty Hassan, to discuss his life and career.
Inside the Industry: The Wonderful World of Galleys
Joanna Biggar’s new book has just gone to galley, but what exactly does that mean?
Remembering W.S. Merwin: Grace Cavalieri’s Two Interviews with the Literary Giant
In 2000, the bicentennial of the Library of Congress, four Poets Laureate were appointed just for the occasion. The four dignitaries were W.S. Merwin, Robert Pinsky, Rita Dove, and Louise Gluck. I was to record one after the other for 4 hours. That first meeting with Merwin was unforgettable, as he arrived for an hour interview without so much as one poem in his hands. Fortunately, I had brought ten books for his signature and we puzzled our way through. He was delighted to recognize some of his first slim published volumes that were out of print, as well as a few collector’s items.