Name: Portrait of the Alcoholic
Price: 328.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock
Author: Kaveh Akbar
ISBN: 9781943977277

Type

Physical Book

Author

Kaveh Akbar

Publisher

Sibling Rivalry Press, LLC

Language

English

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

22.9 x 15.2 x 0.3 cm

Weight

0.08 kg.

ISBN13

9781943977277

Synopsis "Portrait of the Alcoholic"

"Was it Jung who speculated that alcoholism might be an attempt at a material solution for a spiritual problem? Kaveh Akbar seems able to contain both--he's a demotic, as well as a spiritual, poet (the only type of either I trust). Each word in this little book might rise up from somewhere deep in the earth, but they turn into stars." - Nick Flynn "In Islam prayer is not transactional, poetry is not divorced from the quotidian and portraiture is embraced only in the abstract. And yet here in Kaveh Akbar's book, entreaty is earnest, aimed at the human and particular more often than the divine but at the same time the language and form elevate themselves to the fevered register of desperation. Yes, sure, fine, you would think that a Muslim writing about being a drunk would have to adopt unconventional approaches, but drunkenness in the Islamic literary tradition is a long and time-honored metaphor. For what? Abandonment to God, a cessation of the self--but not so here; no. Here it's real, it's coarse, it's dangerous. The reason we Muslims do not pray for things is that it is similarly dangerous for one to call God's attention onto oneself. But for Kaveh Akbar, whose very name means 'poetry, ' it is a risk every poem takes with gusto. And speaking purely for myself, these poems give me life because 'for so long every step I've taken/ has been from one tongue to another.' Be careful, little brother. God's got His eye on you now." - Kazim Ali

Kaveh Akbar

(Author)

View Author's Page

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet, novelist, and editor. He is the author of the poetry collections Calling a Wolf a Wolf and Pilgrim Bell, and the novel Martyr!, a New York Times bestseller, National Book Award finalist, and one of Barack Obama's favorite books of the year.

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