The emblems of James Reaney : magnetically drawn / Thomas Gerry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gerry, Thomas M. F., 1948-

Contributor:

Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Reaney, James--Criticism and interpretation.

Reaney, James.

Emblems in literature.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

197 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Other Title:

Magnetically drawn

Place of Publication:

Erin, Ont. : Porcupine's Quill, [2013]

Summary:

In The Emblems of James Reaney, Thomas Gerry explores ways in which these images are key to understanding Reaney's poetry, plays, librettos, fiction, essays and paintings. Since the artistic vision intrinsic to all of Reaney's work is especially intense in his emblems, they offer an effective organizational scheme, a series of starting points, to explore a further range of his productions - not all of his works, but the ones attracted most readily by the emblems. Technically the emblems resemble woodcuts; Reaney lettered and drew them in ink with pen and brush. Five of the emblems were first published in Chicago's Poetry journal in 1969 and a further five were published in Armadillo in 1970. In 1972 they were reprinted as 'Two Chapters from an Emblem Book' in Reaney's Poems. These two chapters are actually all that were published, although there are several unpublished emblems by Reaney in private collections. The emblems bring to Canadian literature the sixteenth-century European and seventeenth-century British Protestant tradition of emblem making, and also transform that tradition in the context of twentieth-century Canada. There are many variations, but an emblem is essentially a hybrid production: a picture with a title or motto, and an accompanying text, usually a poem. Readers are expected to use their wit to formulate the relation of the picture to the words. Book jacket.

Contents:

A Brief History of Emblems 13

Reaney's Visionary Method 19

The Castle 35

The Farm 57

Egypt 71

Within Within 87

The Tree 97

The Riddle 111

Windlady 128

Baron Samedi Porte Baton 141

The Last House 159

The Hat 167

An Emblematic Photograph of James Reaney 175.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-193).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Laura Jan Meyerson Poetry Fund.

ISBN:

0889843589

9780889843585

OCLC:

816511892

Publisher Number:

99954527813