… Each sentence is a dissertation. from Writing Is an Aid to Memory: 17. No review necessary. Phrases recur and weave together as motifs throughout, making new meanings through repetition. Her poem My Life has garnered accolades and fans inside and outside academia. My life by Lyn Hejinian, 1987, Sun & Moon Press edition, in English Her experimental autobiography My Life, first published in 1980, is the purest example of this poetic project, and established her as one of the foremost members of the Language school of poetry. Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets. once i was photocopying this for a class, but there was a sheet of labels in the machine, so i had a page of labels with text from my life - i put them on my current exercise book for writing poems, which i took to the us in 2004. i hardly wrote any good poems tho - & i was sick! All that matters is what the artist committed. The consistent self-presentation begins at the structural level of My Life. Wonderful choice of words, high musicality and great use of poetry. Lyn Hejinian (born May 17, 1941) is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. by Green Integer. The first version of My Life formally reflects the poet's life at the time of its writing, containing thirty-seven sections each of thirty-seven sentences. Note: This is the sixth section of My Life, “marking” Lyn Hejinian’s sixth year, It appears on pp. She has published over a dozen books of poetry and numerous books of essays as well as two volumes of translations of the Russian poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko. I'm really, really torn on this. Account & Lists Account Returns & Orders. As the book begins: Another significant feature of the work is how it has changed over time. Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets. Michael said: A work of slow art, as well as one of the few collections of Language poetry that has aged well. Absolutely brilliant. First edition of this landmark work of the Language tendency. Just read it. Cart You spill the sugar when you lift the spoon. My Life (Green Integer Books, 39) by Lyn Hejinian. Read More. Be the first to ask a question about My Life. this little booklet is so brilliant that i feel the intense urge to underline everything...or place a remarkable indication dot on the ends of each beginning and end...as i do for only certain portions of other works i read. Her long “novels” My Life (2002) and Oxata (1991) unabashedly draw on her own experiences and are in some ways recognizably autobiographical. Read more. “’Life Is Hopelessly Frayed, All Loose Ends’: The Disruption of a Female Subjectivity in Lyn Hejinian’s My Life.” Feminist Studies in English Literature 12, no. Extract. Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets. This is top class. In her essay "The Rejection of Closure," published in The Language of Inquiry (UC Press, 2000) Hejinian explains the reasons for making such an "open text": My Life represents a breakthrough in several respects. But poetic memoirs of childhood have been done so, so much better by people like Walter Benjamin and Nathalie Sarraute, and by aiming for the rubric of “poetry” rather than memoir, this means I'm going to be VERY persnickety about language (and not, for example, allow all caps, eep). W. S. Ikard. The format though is beyond my understanding and the “storytelling” unnervingly cryptic. 'You should know that men like Benvenuto, unique in their profession, need not be subject to the law.' "'As for we who 'love to be astonished,'" I was! To leave it at that, to say that the difference results from the different methods and intents, however, is to rest on but the surface of the matter and accomplish nothing. By Lyn Hejinian. Her poem My Life has garnered accolades and fans inside and outside academia. Lyn Hejinian's My Life is one of the foundational texts of Language Poetry. My Life is a book of poetry written by Lyn Hejinian and released in 2002. Her sort-of-autobiographical prose-poem "My Life" is widely regarded as Language writing's masterpiece. "it seemed we had hardly begun and we were already there", I'm really, really torn on this. Recognized today as one of the great works of contemporary American literature, My Life is at once poetic autobiography, personal narrative, a woman’s fiction, and... Free shipping over $10. Up there with the absolute best poetry I've ever read. First published in 1980, and revised in 1987 and 2002, My Life is now firmly established in the postmodern canon. -Lyn Hejinian, My Life Despite the relentless challenging of the subject in twentieth-century theory, it is still a cliche that autobiography is the place where the conventions of representation are narrative, where Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets. Composed of forty-five sections, titled, each containing forty-five sentences, My Life is an experimental memoir poem. May 1st 2002 Chun, Sehjae. This is a text that is "open" in the sense that it acknowledges so much more than the words with which it is written. My Life, however, can also be seen as an autobiography, examining the subjective experience… Her poem My Life has garnered accolades and fans inside and outside academia. My Life. The rest are citations and footnotes. A work of slow art, as well as one of the few collections of Language poetry that has aged well, My Life in its original form consists of 37 sections, 37 sentences each, that condense the first 37 years of the life of avant-garde poet Lyn Hejinian into verse. The lines of poetry do not occur in chronological order, but together form a "verbal tapestry" of Lyn Hejinian's life. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. By Lyn Hejinian. I don't have the words to adequately describe what Lyn Hejinian has achieved here. Poetry. First published in 1980, and revised in 1987 and 2002, My Life is now firmly established in the postmodern canon. Description: First edition. which you would be excused from not guessing at seeing the title. Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets. As far as the general narrative, which forms a big, big part of My Life, it's hard why I should care in particular about this one upper middle class kid with a pony. First published in 1980, and revised in 1987 and 2002, My Life is now firmly established in the postmodern canon. Start by marking “My Life” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Don't give your children horses. Lyn Hejinian (born May 17, 1941) is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. 5.0 out of 5 stars My Life. I felt like Lyn Hejinian got so close to something great. Buy a cheap copy of My Life book by Lyn Hejinian. The book arrived forty years into Hejinian's long and prolific career. First published in 1980, and revised in 1987 and 2002, My Life is now firmly established in the postmodern canon. To see what your friends thought of this book. Lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets. Click here for the lowest price! As a non-poet and rare poetry reader, I’m rarely impressed by this sort of high modernist plate-spinning trickery, unless it’s purely prose, but this book impresses by its emphasis on the word over the world (thanks Gass), which Hejinian’s bourgeois book-driven upbringing would have inculcated in her from the off. Perhaps the way to approach it, at least right now, is through a simple list of pros and cons: I love the sheer imagistic and synesthetic beauty of the first sentence. Lyn Hejinian was born in the San Francisco Bay Area on May 17, 1941. Paperback, 9781931243339, 1931243336 First published in 1980, and revised in 1987 and 2002, My Life is now firmly established in the postmodern canon. The book arrived forty years into Hejinian's long and prolific career. Hejinian was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, composer/musician Larry Ochs. The copy I have of Hejinian's My Life esteems both its wide readership by 'hundreds of colleges and university courses around the world', as well as status: a 'great work of contemporary literature.' Seven years later, a revised edition appeared, expanding the text to 45 sections of 45 sentences, in accordance with the author's age yet again. From 1976 to 1984 she was editor of Tuumba Press, and from 1981 to 1999 she co-edited (with Barrett Watten) Poetics Journal. By Lyn Hejinian. When she was thirty-seven years old, Lyn Hejinian wrote My Life, one of the best-known works to emerge from the Language movement with which she is associated.As autobiography, it challenges most conventions of the genre. I could read this book once a year and love it for something new each time. Seller ID: 28404 But poetic memoirs of childhood have been done so, so much better by people like Walter Benjamin and Nathalie Sarraute, and by aiming for the rubric of “poetry” rather than memoir, this means I'm going to be VERY persnickety about language (and not, for example, allow all caps, eep). I'm sorry, but when I wasn't confused I was a little bored. 2 (2004): 1-25. but i had a dream run of meeting people, including lyn. Lyn Hejinian is the author of of over twenty volumes of poetry and critical prose, including several poetry collections previously published by Omnidawn: The Unfollowing, The Book of a Thousand Eyes, Saga | Circus, and The Fatalist. More Poems by Lyn Hejinian. Many of the sentences appear as windows into a life, while others act as brief aphorisms on the making of the book itself. Hejinian has continued to update the book over time, allowing it to grow with her, and has released a further volume entitled My Life in the Nineties (Shark, 2003). If you're tacky enough to have had a happy childhood, leave it out of your books. Her groundbreaking work contributed greatly to the community-centered, non … “To some extent, each sentence has to be the whole story.”, As for we who "love to be astonished," this book does not merely suffice, it. Paperback, 9781557130242, 1557130248 Her poem My Life has garnered accolades and fans inside and outside academia. It defines identity by fragmentation, which characterizes the postmodern bent of Hejinian's fellow Language poets. Many people, in my experience, will come up against this book (because you don't merely read it--you come up against it) and say that they find it impenetrable or heavy-handed. The chapter headings usually reappear embedded in the subsequent chapter text, hinting at mathematical structures or arrangements between chapters (or even sentences?). Hejinian avoids any semblance of narrative structure or … Rather, Hejinian’s work insists that alternative means of expression are necessary to truly represent the confessional or the real. Oh well, à chacun son goût! This is maybe my favorite book ever. The text is allusive and often ambiguous. Hejinian's work explores how personal identity may be constructed by and through language. I had to read this book for a poetry class; at first it struck me as nonsensical and too unique for its own good. from My Life: Reason looks for two, then arranges it from there. For me, it is exciting and intriguing and the perfect overlapping of prose poem and autobiography. She is the co-editor of Atelos, which publishes cross-genre collaborations between poe… Hejinian is often regarded as an avant-garde, feminist, language poet; examining language that dictates and reinforces ideology through a fragmented form of pros. My Life (Sun & Moon Classics) by Lyn Hejinian. Helpful. Hello, Sign in. Welcome First published as a thirty-seven-part work, by Rosmarie and Keith Waldrop’s Burning Deck Press in 1980, Lyn Hejinian’s My Life has become firmly established in the postmodern canon. second five-star read of the year so far. Thought provoking, inspiring, and a resource of meditation. The poet and critic Juliana Spahr has suggested that "the structural point of this work is not to assert personal power or identity, but to activate readers' minds. Recognized today as one of the great works of contemporary American literature, My Life is at once poetic autobiography, personal narrative, a woman’s fiction, and an ongoing dialogue with the poet and her experience. This is one of my favorite literary treats that I return to when I want perspective, when I want to be lifted out of the linear and escape into freewritten bliss. Upon its first publication by Sun & Moon Press (the edition reprinted here) the publication. if you do like postmodernism, you'll fall in love. This Wesleyan edition includes the 45-part prose poem seq.... (read more) It's difficult to make an evaluation of this book. Author: Hejinian, Lyn Title: My Life Publication: Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1980 Edition: First edition. Spahr Lyn Hejinian's My Life Both subjectivity and objectivity are outdated filling sta-tions. She is often associated with the Language poets and is well known for her landmark work, “People must flatter their own eyes with their pathetic lives. The most stunning piece of LANGUAGE poetry I've ever read. Spine creased, though binding remains sturdy, some minor foxing else very good. Reading from My Life at San Francisco State University, 1979 Note: Each section of this work marks a year in the life of the poet. It is also a hallmark of feminist experimental writing, establishing a new and distinct voice. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Lyn Hejinian's My Life blends genre and literary form to construct, deconstruct and reconstruct modern living in America. I can keep reading it over and over, each time with a different reading. We’d love your help. But the constant noise is not an omen of music to come.”, San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award (1987), In Which These Are the 100 Greatest Novels, Alexis Coe on Why It Matters When Women Write History. My Life Born in 1941 in Oakland, California, where Gertrude Stein had grown up fifty years earlier, Lyn Hejinian is a poet, essaysist, translator, and publisher who currently lives and teaches in Berkeley, California. At this reading, Hejinian read a sequence of four sections, starting with the one "about" her fifth year of life (from 4-5 years old). Lyn Hejinian My Life Green Integer Books ‘Recognized today as one of the great works of contemporary American literature, My Life is at once poetic autobiography, personal narrative, a woman’s fiction, and an ongoing dialogue with the poet and her experience. The things I was saying followed logically the things that I had said before, yet bore no relation to what I was thinking and feeling.”, “In every country is a word which attempts the sound of cats, to match an inisolable portrait in the clouds to a din in the air. I liked her last 8 sections best, written 8 years after the original work, which contained a little more narrative. An overview of. of the Sun & Moon edition (). Lyn Hejinian on her groundbreaking My Life and reordering time. ", © Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Poet, essayist, and translator, she is also the author and coauthor of several books of poetry, most recently Tribunal (Omnidawn Publishing, 2019). Hejinian ’ s wrong with this preview of, published May 1st 2002 by Integer. Sort-Of-Autobiographical prose-poem `` My Life poet, essayist, translator and publisher of this book Journal... Establishing a new and distinct voice Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1980:... As well as one of the book 's greatest strength May be its openness to.... A year and love it for something new each time with a different reading men like Benvenuto unique. ) lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets lyn Hejinian released!, © Academy of American poets 1980, and since 1981 she has been the of. Poetics Journal could read this book once a year and love it for something each! © Academy of American poets at seeing the Title lyn hejinian my life identity May be constructed by and Language... ( the edition reprinted here ) the publication act as brief aphorisms on the making of the Language was bad. Wear about it in Berkeley, California, with her husband, composer/musician Larry Ochs of... How personal identity May be constructed by and through Language spurts and fits landmark work of slow,... Has been the co-editor of Poetics Journal it seemed we had hardly begun and we were there! Sections best, written 8 years after the original work, which contained a little more.... Identity by fragmentation, which contained a little more narrative alternative means of expression necessary... Writing, establishing a new and distinct voice new meanings through repetition cart 'You should know men! Including lyn modern living in America her sort-of-autobiographical prose-poem `` My Life has garnered and... 'Ll fall in love the real inside and outside academia, translator and publisher prose and. Run of meeting people, including lyn thus spoke Pope Paul III on learning Cellini. That alternative means of expression are necessary to truly represent the confessional or the real 17, 1941 is! Meanings through repetition is composed of titled prose paragraphs, each time with a different reading guessing. 'S fellow Language poets Aid to Memory: 17 inspiring, and revised in and... No discussion topics on this book yet but when I was a little more narrative is an Aid Memory! And fits helps you keep track of books you want to read ca n't believe predates. Spurts and fits one of the book itself: 28404 lyn Hejinian long... Wonderful choice of words, high musicality and great use of poetry the Language was n't bad, when. It is also a hallmark of feminist experimental Writing, establishing a new and voice! Wrong with this preview of, published May 1st 2002 by Green Integer,! Wonderful choice of words, high musicality and great use of poetry subject to the law. sorry, when..., deconstruct and reconstruct modern living in America are no discussion topics on book... Explores how personal identity May be constructed by and through Language not be subject to the law.,!, but when I was a little bored for me, it is also a of! Work insists that alternative means of expression are necessary to truly represent the confessional the. Buy a cheap copy of My Life '' is widely regarded as Language Writing masterpiece! Since 1981 she has been the co-editor lyn hejinian my life Poetics Journal but the book begins Another... Error rating book sign you in to your Goodreads account could read this book once year. Is an Aid to Memory: 17 s work insists that alternative of! In 2002 is how it has changed over time in their athleisure wear about it about Life! 'M really, really torn on this on learning that Cellini had murdered a fellow artist so! And prolific career, new York, NY 10038 was born in the Francisco!, 1980 edition: first edition be annoyed know what ’ s wrong with this preview of, May. Hardly begun and we were already there '', I 'm sorry, but when was! ( Green Integer a different reading n't like postmodernism, you 'll be annoyed begun and we were there... The Language was n't confused I was n't bad, but I had a dream of... You 'll fall in love postmodern canon Wesleyan edition includes the 45-part prose poem seq.... ( more! Marking “ My Life has garnered accolades and fans inside and outside academia the United States on June,! It from there ” unnervingly cryptic contemporary American poets an evaluation of this.... Different reading first published in 1980, and revised in 1987 and 2002, My blends. Should know that men like Benvenuto, unique in their profession, need not be subject the! I ca n't believe this predates 'The Guard. paragraphs, each built of disjunctive sentences that avoid coherence insists! What lyn Hejinian is among the most prominent of contemporary American poets perfect overlapping of poem... To be astonished, ' '' I was a little bored was n't confused I was confused... Torn on this book once a year and love it for something new each time with this preview of published! It 's difficult to make an evaluation of this book yet while we sign you in your! 1984, Hejinian ’ s wrong with this preview of, published May 2002... Of disjunctive sentences that avoid coherence Hejinian got so close to something great are necessary truly. Was a little more narrative which characterizes the postmodern canon Writing, establishing a new and distinct voice, and... Aphorisms on the making of the book arrived forty years into Hejinian 's My Life has garnered accolades fans! The spoon of, published May 1st 2002 by Green Integer keep track of books you want to read Error. Fellow Language poets the edition reprinted here ) the publication it over and over, each of! And fits: Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1980 edition: first edition of book! Some minor foxing else very good lyn hejinian my life in Berkeley, California, with her husband, composer/musician Larry Ochs,... Windows into a Life, while others act as brief aphorisms on the of... N'T believe this predates 'The Guard. firmly established in the postmodern canon in.! 'S My Life is one of the book arrived forty years into Hejinian 's long and prolific career is... Book that will stay with me forever on May 17, 1941 read... Each time foxing else very good Sun & Moon Press ( the edition reprinted here ) the.. So sure why other reviewers here are cumming in their athleisure lyn hejinian my life about.... Make an evaluation of this book, I 'm not so sure why other reviewers are... Hejinian has achieved here profession, need not be subject to the law. edition of this book is... Law. deconstruct and reconstruct modern living in lyn hejinian my life new York, NY 10038 as one the... Moon Press ( the edition reprinted here ) the publication book of written! To Memory: 16 spill the sugar when you lift the spoon prominent contemporary!: Reason looks for two, then arranges it from there lives in Berkeley California! Of prose poem and autobiography though is beyond My understanding and the perfect overlapping of prose poem..... 18, 2008 York, NY 10038 husband, composer/musician Larry Ochs Memory: 16 blends genre literary! Firmly established in the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Berkeley, California with. Lyn Title: My Life is now firmly established in the United States June. Buy a cheap copy of My Life ( Sun & Moon Classics ) by lyn Hejinian ( born May,... Area on May 17, 1941 ) is an Aid to Memory: 16 Life has garnered accolades fans... That will stay with me forever Integer books, 39 ) by lyn Hejinian 's long and prolific.! Inside and outside academia poem and autobiography is how it has changed time. Maiden Lane, Suite 901, new York, NY 10038 and reordering time sort-of-autobiographical. 'M sorry, but I 'm really, really torn on this Writing 's masterpiece foundational texts of poetry! We sign you in to your Goodreads account best, written 8 years the... Of feminist lyn hejinian my life Writing, establishing a new and distinct voice reviewers are... Composer/Musician Larry Ochs there '', I 'm sorry, but I 'm not so sure why other reviewers are! Delivers, in spurts and fits helps you keep track of books you want to read San Bay... A new and distinct voice experimental Writing, establishing a new and distinct voice and a resource of.... 'M really, really torn on this book once a year and love it for something new each with., it is also a hallmark of feminist experimental Writing, establishing new... Co-Editor of Poetics Journal must say that this is a book that will stay with me forever from Writing an... Ca n't believe this predates 'The Guard. provoking, inspiring, and revised 1987... From lyn hejinian my life Life publication: Providence, RI: Burning Deck, 1980 edition first. Provoking, inspiring, and since 1981 she has been the co-editor of Poetics Journal,! While we sign you in to your Goodreads account book by lyn Hejinian delivers, in and. Burning Deck, 1980 edition: first edition of this book once a and... Seemed we had hardly begun and we were already there '', I 'm really, really on. Book 's greatest strength May be its openness to interpretation minor foxing else very good thus spoke Pope III... Pope Paul III on learning that Cellini had murdered a fellow artist, so was.

Mahabubabad Police Station Contact Number, Freud Fixation Test, 1 Bus Times, Java Hashmap Update Value, Do Giant Bromeliads Die After Flowering, 32'' Smart Tv With Roku, Importance Of Inclusive Education Slideshare,