Lax, Robert; Denander, Henry

The Circus of the Sun

Marlborough, MA: Water Row Press, 2020. Limited First Edition. Hardcover. Offered here is a gorgeous edition of a little-heralded and oft-forgotten classic of mid-century American literature, "The Circus of the Sun," a book-length poem by Robert Lax (1915-2000). Mystique hangs heavy about writers such as Lax, and a hazy combination of myth and intrigue both shapes and clouds what, if anything, we remember them for. In Lax's case, one can say it is generally two-fold; for the uninitiated, he is to be known by his association with the towering Trappist poet par excellence, Thomas Merton (1915-1968). A New Yorker by birth, Lax attended Columbia University, where he studied with noted poet-&-critic, Mark Van Doren. Columbia was also where Lax first met Thomas Merton, with whom he worked on a college humor magazine, titled "Jester." Like Merton himself, Lax has what might well be recognized as a Beat-adjacent sensibility. Speaking to this, Van Doren himself once wrote of Lax's "love of the world and all things, all persons in it." Beatitude, much? To this, I must add or note (with a literary-critical chuckle holstered in my cheek), that unlike the "Holy Goof" of the Beat Generation, Neal Cassady, Lax himself once worked as an actual clown. Quite literally, he "wandered, working in circuses in Canada as a clown and expert juggler." Drawing closer now to the substance of this here work, it was during that time (when the poet was traveling with the Cristiani Brothers circus, c. 1949) that he gathered material for what would become this poem cycle, which "follows a day in the life of a circus as they arrive in a new town, set up, rehearse, perform and take down the circus." Illustrations by Henry Denander (b. 1952), the Swedish Abstract-Expressionistic poet, painter, and collagist of note who, as Lax once did, lives along the Grecian isles. The re-publication of Lax's masterwork, here serves as a welcome re-introduction to the forgotten poet; yet another from the teeming reef of creative genius that was New York in the 1950s. Hardcover in white cloth boards: Limited First Edition Thus, one of 100 numbered copies (#86/100), as indicated on colophon page. Designed and printed by Markus Hartel at Raghaus Studios in Newburgh, New York and handbound by Bill Roberts of the venerable Bottle of Smoke Press. This work is further enriched by its having been signed by its illustrator at colophon page, beside the [aforementioned] limitation. Denander signature, in bold, black, felt pen ink, reads: "Henry Denander." Book in exquisitely very fine condition, virtually as new and fundamentally pristine. Very Fine. [Item #5224]

Price: $100.00