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446th out of 976 books
—
1,015 voters
The Lichtenberg Figures
by
Ben Lerner
The Lichtenberg Figures, winner of the Hayden Carruth Award, is an unconventional sonnet sequence that interrogates the relationship between language and memory, violence and form. “Lichtenberg figures” are fern-like electrical patterns that can appear on (and quickly fade from) the bodies of people struck by lightning.
Throughout this playful and elegiac debut—with its f
Paperback, 53 pages
Published
September 1st 2004
by Copper Canyon Press
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I came across Ben Lerner when I was looking for writers from Kansas. Lerner writes poetry and has published one novel, Leaving the Atocha Station. He is what I would call a very academic poet - very self-aware, intentionally creating structured poems, using words most readers will need to look up. (Goodness, take what I said and magnify it by 100 after I watched a video lecture of him speaking on poetic logic and structure.)
This set of poems is described as 52 "sonnets," although they aren't so...more
This set of poems is described as 52 "sonnets," although they aren't so...more
I wrote a pretty aggressive review of this the other day, but I'm in a better mood now. Plus, I watched this video where Lerner has a lot of interesting things to say about writing poetry and comes across as less of a bullshit artist than in The Lichtenberg Figures. I still think that he went down the wrong path with this book and is extremely alienating in his style, but I'm willing to accept now that that wasn't necessarily intentional.
You can't blame me, though, when an actual stanza from the...more
You can't blame me, though, when an actual stanza from the...more
I like this book. I can read this book in any mood and enjoy it I think. This book is sarcastic, self-conscious, afraid, and smart.
Straight-up funny. High irreverence for the irreverent high. I glanced at a few of the less-than-glowing reviews before I'd finished the book and I'm in disbelief over their existence now that it's done. Ben Lerner is solidly a favorite author. I read Ryan, who is surface conservative when it comes to poetry, always griping about what a waste of paper poems are and going on over how gimmicky the abnormal-shaped publication sizes seem, the line "I feed the ducks duck meat in duck sauce when I wal...more
This book kicks ass. The title may be a little alienating, but it's totally appropriate. The poems are quick, sharp, fractal, and spooky:
"We had thought that by arranging words at random
we could avoid ideology. We were right.
Then we were terribly wrong. Such is the nature of California."
That's funny right? The poems handle meta-poetics in a really smart, accessible way. A surprisingly quick read.
"We had thought that by arranging words at random
we could avoid ideology. We were right.
Then we were terribly wrong. Such is the nature of California."
That's funny right? The poems handle meta-poetics in a really smart, accessible way. A surprisingly quick read.
A series of tired "yo mama so fat..." jokes except sub in "Derrida" or "Bakhtin" for "yo mama" and "hermeneutically unsophisticated" for "fat". Wannabe-downfall-of-western-civilization type of stuff.
If you want this type of material, turn to Das Racist. They do it so much better, and at least you can dance to it.
~
Pretty close to just giving up on contemporary poetry. It's all this masturbatory bullshit where the author is just trying to convince you how smart he is instead of elevating or picki...more
If you want this type of material, turn to Das Racist. They do it so much better, and at least you can dance to it.
~
Pretty close to just giving up on contemporary poetry. It's all this masturbatory bullshit where the author is just trying to convince you how smart he is instead of elevating or picki...more
Wow, this guy sure does know how to write. His poems are honest, sarcastic, sometimes angry, and leave you with the feeling that you need to read them again just so you make sure you didn't miss anything. There is a lot going on, but he makes it work. I am drawn it just from the first poem, automatically wanting to read about what he has to say.
For my money, Ben Lerner is one of the best, most intelligent, and most ambitious poets writing today. This is a collection of edgy sonnets that totally plays with the whole history of the sonnet form. Ben is also a great guy to have a beer with. He's originally from Topeka and edits a literary journal called No.
1 like · like · see review
Ben Lerner is the real deal. His unique brand of cut-ups with theory texts (I was always wondering what good theory was for poets) and other bits of odd assorted language detritus mixed with his own meditations on these culled bits makes for compelling reading. Sonnets that shake the faith of the old sonnet lovers.
If I could, I would give this book more stars than almost any other book on my list. However, this would require me to go through my whole list and give almost every book that is not this one 4 stars instead of 5, and then I would have to change the old 4 stars to 3 stars, and so on and so forth.
I loved this book. Poems cover several topics that go from current life in academia, sculpture and, some give a bit the author's anecdotes. I keep reading over and over because what he does with language in some of the poems is amazing!
May 31, 2010
Ben Bush
added it
Meaner than "Angle of Yaw." Lerner's reinvention of the sonnet taught me words such as "epistaxis" and "cenotaph." I suspect "Angle of Yaw" and his recent "Mean Free Path" are the better of Lerner's books, but you kind of can't go wrong with this guy.
Favorite poems: "In my culture, when a woman dies, we sleep on the floor." and "The left hand is a scandal."
One of the best collections of poems i've ever read. i love this book to death.
i'm cool with a man who has rage.
very interested in this book.
This is the third time I’ve read Lerner’s first book and I still find it a fresh read. The clash of his intelligence and humor creates unexpected sparks while he interrogates pop culture, politics, violence, and the academy. It’s a heady mix that keeps your head spinning. And besides all of that, I just enjoy watching how he demolishes the sonnet again and again. The sequence takes on a manic pace as the book winds down leaving you feeling a little winded, a little roughed up and hankering for m...more
Poems. A series of free verse sonnets
telling you what you should
and should not think—
obvious epiphanies and oddball
normalcies treading cultural water
tossing out the baby with the bath
tub gin grin who
is keeping count? who
counts the counters or the countings?
this is not a review.
telling you what you should
and should not think—
obvious epiphanies and oddball
normalcies treading cultural water
tossing out the baby with the bath
tub gin grin who
is keeping count? who
counts the counters or the countings?
this is not a review.
Really lovely. Wonderful interleaving of a childhood narrative that emerges in snips and chunks when the volume is read as a whole. And this without mentioning Lerner's fine ear for the texture of quotidian language, which he elevates to poetry without letting it lose its footing.
One of the more exciting books I've come across lately-- these poems attempt to balance rhetoric with emotion, pop culture with lyricism, content with energy and, very often, succeed.
I don't know what the sentence "Coruscant skinks emerge in force" means. But I don't really care, I like the way it sounds. These poems are a testament to Ben Lerner's genius.
Some of the best contemporary poetry I've ever read. I'm not a poet historian or a poet but his work is dark, political and and very intresting.
this book is swell, although i remember nothing about it so maybe its not. the author photo on the back, though, will stay in my mind forever.
Very happy, just put THE ANGLE OF YAW on reserve at the library, very excited, very very today, eager for poetry.
great anthology - essential reading for anyone interested in late 20th century poetry
Sep 02, 2008
Joe
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like self conscious sonnets
Recommended to Joe by:
Iron Man.
Shelves:
poetry
"You are the first and last indigenous Nintendo."
Thanks for the reccomendation from Zanni!
Brilliant.
Formulaic fun.
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Benjamin S. Lerner is an American poet, novelist, and critic. He was awarded the Hayden Carruth prize for his cycle of fifty-two sonnets, The Lichtenberg Figures. In 2004, Library Journal named it one of the year's twelve best books of poetry. The Lichtenberg Figures appeared in a German translation in 2010, for which it received the "Preis der Stadt Münster für internationale Poesie" in 2011, mak...more
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Dec 08, 2012 07:42pm