Eigner, Larry

Country Harbor Quiet Act Around: Selected Prose

Kensington, CA: This Press, 1978. Limited First Softcover Edition. Softcover. Signed by editor Barrett Watten. "Larry Eigner's poems are stars falling out of the sky. Seldom has there been such a shower. For the sky in his head meets space naturally, not on some self-imagined edge. Stars can go wrong. Most poets will not accept that. Where so much poetry ends, Eigner's begins. His prose, why not, comes from another angle, closer here. Second-story man, moved down to first. Try living in bed, when not in a wheelchair, for fortysome years, with a window nearby; with the seasons opening and closing that window, screening sight and sound; with the seasons changing the foliage, the views; without always the capacity to set up and see what you have heard, without; with a lovingly remembering eye and a heavenly ear. Think of all that strangely lucky time." (From Introduction by Douglas Woolf, pg. 5) A collection of prose works by Larry Eigner (1927-1996), a major American poet of the Black Mountain School who was closely associated with and sometimes published by fellow Black Mountaineer Robert Creeley (1926-2005), & who was able to create sublime prose & poetry despite having been severely handicapped since his botched birth. Edited by Barrett Watten (b. 1948), professor of Creative Writing at Wayne State University in Detroit, foundational American poet & member of the Language Poets Movement, with which Eigner is also associated. With an Introduction (quoted above) by Douglas Woolf (1922-1992), the noted author & critic. Trade-format softcover, one of 800 softcover copies (of a total edition of 1000) printed here in Ann Arbor per colophon. From our good friend Watten's own collection. At title page, just next to his printed name, Watten has hand-written & emphatically underlined his signature in bold blue ink. An essential Eigner collectible in its penultimately rarest contemporary form; with most-distinguished, relevant association & provenance. See our other Eigner collectibles & contributions incl. item No.s 8510, 8513, 8515. In relatively very fine condition with only slight rubbing, faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; one short, thin vertical line in blue ink at upper middle area of text block side edge. Interior very fine, appearing substantially mint. Very Fine. [Item #9193]

Price: $75.00 save 10% $67.50