Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems 1982-2004 (Pitt Poetry Series)
Description
Interrogation Palace is a career-spanning selection of work from an important American poet, drawing upon each of David Wojahn’s six previous collections and a substantial gathering of new work. Moving fluently from personal history to public history, and from high culture to popular culture, Wojahn’s searching and restless poetry has been considerably acclaimed, both for the candor of its testimony and the authority of its formal invention. He is above all an elegiac poet, tender and ferocious by turns, whether mourning the loss of family and loved ones or the hopes and aspirations of the baby-boomer era. <I>Interrogation Palace</I> confirms David Wojahn’s status as one of the most inventive, passionate, and ambitious figures of his generation.
Praise for Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems 1982-2004 (Pitt Poetry Series)
“Interrogation Palace shows that David Wojahn has been faithful to his vision. Never afraid of the arcane and experimental, he somehow keeps both feet in this world and propels us through an inner sanctum of angels and rock music, soothsayers and popular history, and philosophers and postmodern mystery. At the heart of Wojahn’s poetry is the raw data of pain and joy. This wonderful poet knows how to conjure laughter through a witty, earthy language.”
—Yusef Komunyakaa
“This sternly chosen sampling should strengthen, if not alter, Wojahn’s reputation as an elegist, autobiographer and poetic historian--sometimes as all three at once. Those who already know his strengths will rejoice in the new work, especially in the remarkable and well-informed protest poems.
--Publishers Weekly
“Superb. Powerful, panoramic. In Interrogation Palace Wojahn picked the perfect title: these are poems of both largesse and terror. . . . He writes with as much formal and emotional strength as any poet alive.”
--Poetry Magazine
