I hope I am not alone in admitting that I find this both difficult and intriguing. To be clear it intrigues and engages on a very personal level because as a visual artist my work, which is mostly stained glass art composed in a very collage-like style, seeks to achieve similar results by inviting the viewer to connect various visual images loosely organized around a theme or themes. In particular, while I sometimes include very dark images, my overall goal is to ask what in this world brings hope, wonder, even glimpses of peace. Suffice it to say this has not made me famous or rich so far. Gaza has been the hardest interruption to my artistic output since the Iraq war but that is nothing and utterly trivial compared with the impact on victims. But devastation and apocalyptic racist wars do spread in all directions. Who doesn't feel the constant erosion of personal agency from all of this.
The sentences are spare and philosophically dense . I , for one am forced to slow down and summon my full faculties. In fact, as with Pynchon, a favorite writer, I needed to re-read to begin to get some clarity. The notes I assume are integral and certainly were very helpful to me. Audubon is a compelling source. Hard not to admire his work but I feel I cannot help but see in the trail of dead birds and the resulting vision of glorious natural freedom the intention to contrast the image with the cost of the image. Perhaps the image of heroic defense of homeland and glorious successes of the free and brave contrasted with the reality of Wounded Knee, agent Orange, El Mozote and mass murder in Palestine . Perhaps this is the nature of poetry and meditation in the age of genocidal wars.
I do think, however, that the writer may wish to consider how to maximize the accessibility of this work, though I have real respect for the goals, so similar to my own artistic goals, and admire much of what I am reading and may well read the full novel.
Joseph, This is a really thoughtful comment, and one I appreciate very much. I think Dimock's work requires a very different kind of engagement, a different way of reading. My own reaction to Audubon was similar to the one you describe: "the trail of dead birds," etc. Thank you for sharing your insights. -Cara
I hope I am not alone in admitting that I find this both difficult and intriguing. To be clear it intrigues and engages on a very personal level because as a visual artist my work, which is mostly stained glass art composed in a very collage-like style, seeks to achieve similar results by inviting the viewer to connect various visual images loosely organized around a theme or themes. In particular, while I sometimes include very dark images, my overall goal is to ask what in this world brings hope, wonder, even glimpses of peace. Suffice it to say this has not made me famous or rich so far. Gaza has been the hardest interruption to my artistic output since the Iraq war but that is nothing and utterly trivial compared with the impact on victims. But devastation and apocalyptic racist wars do spread in all directions. Who doesn't feel the constant erosion of personal agency from all of this.
The sentences are spare and philosophically dense . I , for one am forced to slow down and summon my full faculties. In fact, as with Pynchon, a favorite writer, I needed to re-read to begin to get some clarity. The notes I assume are integral and certainly were very helpful to me. Audubon is a compelling source. Hard not to admire his work but I feel I cannot help but see in the trail of dead birds and the resulting vision of glorious natural freedom the intention to contrast the image with the cost of the image. Perhaps the image of heroic defense of homeland and glorious successes of the free and brave contrasted with the reality of Wounded Knee, agent Orange, El Mozote and mass murder in Palestine . Perhaps this is the nature of poetry and meditation in the age of genocidal wars.
I do think, however, that the writer may wish to consider how to maximize the accessibility of this work, though I have real respect for the goals, so similar to my own artistic goals, and admire much of what I am reading and may well read the full novel.
Joseph, This is a really thoughtful comment, and one I appreciate very much. I think Dimock's work requires a very different kind of engagement, a different way of reading. My own reaction to Audubon was similar to the one you describe: "the trail of dead birds," etc. Thank you for sharing your insights. -Cara
Thanks for this very interesting reading, translated in french here : https://zanzibar.substack.com/p/cest-un-romancier-affronte-le-siege