The Improved Binoculars - Softcover
The 87 poems included in the first (1956) edition of The Improved Binoculars were selected from the eight volumes the poet published in the first ten years of his career. The publication of the book -- simultaneously by The Ryerson Press (Canada), Migrant Books (England), and Jonathan Williams ( US ) -- did much to establish Layton as a major talent on the international poetry scene and prompted Robert Creeley to note: `Irving Layton may well be for the historian of Literature ... the First Great Canadian Poet.'
What a pleasure to rediscover `The Bull Calf', `The Cold Green Element', `The Birth of Tragedy' and `To the Girls of my Graduating Class' and discover these poems are as vital as the day they were written.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Author:
About the Author:
`The publication of The Improved Binoculars, in 1956 with an introduction by William Carlos Williams was a vitamin pill that restored my faith in mankind when the assaulting voices had become too loud and noisy. Invitations to give readings in the USA and to submit poems to American magazines and journals soon followed.
`New Directions, some years later, published a Selected Poems with an introduction by Hugh Kenner. Not surprisingly, some of my fiercest and most raucous critics in Canada began to discover virtues in my work they had hitherto overlooked.
`The chorus of disapproval that greeted my writing has abated somewhat but not entirely, I'm proud and happy to say. In a world of rapid change and dislocation it is indeed a comfort to know some things never change, some things are eternal: lousy taste, philistinism, smuggery and the vapourings of the half-alive.'
(Irving Layton, 1989)Irving Layton (Israel Lazarovitch) was born March 12, 1912 in Tirgu Neamt, Romania. Layton came to Montreal with his family before he was one. He attained a BSc in agriculture at Macdonald College in 1939. Following a stint in the Canadian Army, he did graduate work in political science at McGill. A poet, short-story writer, and essayist, Layton is perhaps the most well-known of the Montreal poets, a group of young poets who engaged in a battle against romanticism in poetry in the 1940's. Layton has published many poetry collections, including A Red Carpet for the Sun (1959) which won the Governor General's Award. Layton was poet-in-residence at various Canadian universities and a professor of English at York University 1969-78. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1981.
Irving Layton died in 2006.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherPorcupine's Quill
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0889841012
- ISBN 13 9780889841017
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages128
- Rating
Buy New
Learn more about this copy
US$ 9.00
Shipping:
US$ 6.00
From Canada to U.S.A.
Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace
Seller Image
Improved Binoculars
Published by
Erin, Ontario, Canada: Porcupines Quill
(1991)
ISBN 10: 0889841012
ISBN 13: 9780889841017
New
Soft cover
Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Rating
Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. 2nd Edition. Original printed wraps. 128 pp. Octavo. `The Improved Binoculars, published in 1956 by Jonathan William's Jargon Press, was the first of Lton's collections to be widely published in North America. Ryerson Press, the book's Canadian distributor, refused to distribute the book (or even release it to the author) because of its "controversial" content. It is telling that Layton, whom we now regard as the author of some of the finest poems in Canadian history, found a warmer reception at first in the United States than he did in his own country. Layton's early backers included Robert Creeley and William Carlos Williams, who provided a warm (but condescending -- he refers to Layton, a Montrealer, as a "backwoodsman") forward for The Improved Binoculars.'' Printed offset by Tim Inkster on the Heidelberg KORD at the printing office of the Porcupine's Quill in the Village of Erin, Wellington County, Ontario, Canada. Smyth sewn into 16-page signatures. Seller Inventory # 9780889841017
Buy New
US$ 9.00
Convert currency