Writing on air / edited by David Rothenberg and Wandee J. Pryor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Rothenberg, David, 1962-

Pryor, Wandee J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Air--Literary collections.

Air.

Genre:

Literary collections.

Literature.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xiv, 308 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [2003]

Summary:

For centuries, humans have tried to master air. Sea captains rein it in with their sails, and pilots cut through it with their wings. We have machines to pump air into our lungs and computers to anticipate the movement of the winds. Air pervades everything we do and gives us life, yet it is impossible to capture. We can only evoke it through images, impressions, and feelings. This book offers a collage of such evocations expressed through prose, poetry, photography, and drawings. From acrial plankton to Navajo wind gods, from joyful singing to painful emphysema, from gentle breezes to violent storms, Writing on Air creates a fresh way of thinking about the role of air in our everyday lives. Included in the book are prose pieces by poet Hayden Carruth, paulo da costa, Kristjana Gunnars, filmmaker Werner Herzog, Howard Mansfield, Sarah Menin, and C. L. Rawlins; an excerpt from a play by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann on the discovery of oxygen; poems by Lori Anderson, Tonu Onnepalu, Andrew Schelling, and Virgil Suarez; and art and photography by Manuel Acevedo, Stuart Allen, Marsha Cottrell, Susan Derges, the Korwa tribe of the Indian hills, Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Tuula Narhinen, and the airborne dancers of Project Bandaloop.

Contents:

I The Sphere of the Sky

The Psychedelics of Pollution / Harold Fromm 3

To Build an Imperfect Cloud / David Rothenberg 11

The Birds Keep Their Secrets / Howard Mansfield 20

Lenticular Clouds / Harold Humes 32

Of Aerial Plankton and Aeolian Zones / David Lukas 39

The Bering Bridge / Roald Hoffmann 44

Aerial Imagination: The Character of Air in the Spaces of Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto / Sarah Menin 47

What Is Seen from the Air / Virgil Suarez 63

Extinct Songbirds of Maine / Stephen Petroff 67

II Ineffable Air

Inebriate of Air / John Olson 83

Clouding / John P. O'Grady 95

From Oxygen / Carl Djerassi, Roald Hoffmann 105

The Subtle Humour / Bruce F. Murphy 114

Song of the Andoumboulou: 50 / Nathaniel Mackey 124

The Mystery of the Hills / Franck Andre Jamme 135

From Of Walking in Ice / Werner Herzog 147

Thin Air on Mt. Audubon / Andrew Schelling 159

From The Substance of Forgetting / Kristjana Gunnars 163

III Taking It In, Letting It Out

Notes on Emphysema / Hayden Carruth 171

The Laugh / David Appelbaum 181

Breath, Air, Voice / Andrea Olsen 189

Acolyte / Steve Miles 196

A Breath of Memory / paulo da costa 201

Aria / C. L. Rawlins 211

The Atomic Nature of Ma / Lori Anderson 226

Surveillance / Edie Meidav 231

IV "Blow, Winds, and Crack Your Cheeks!"

Divide Winds Charge Ultimate Price / Reg Saner 245

There Is No Freedom Spring Air / Tonu Onnepalu 262

Holy Wind Before Emergence / James Kale McNeley 265

The Aeolian Harp: An Allegorical Dream / F. H. Dalberg 271

Wind, Play with Me: The Mysterious Aeolian Harp / David Rothenberg 276

The Fallacy of Safe Space / David Keller 287

Wind and Breath / D. L. Pughe 294.

Notes:

"A Terra nova book"

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

ISBN:

0262182300

OCLC:

50906082