Debbie: An Epic

by Lisa Robertson

Poetry. One of the more remarkable books of poetry to appear in a long time, Lisa Robertson's DEBBIE: AN EPIC was a finalist for the 1998 Governor General's Award for Poetry. As arresting as the cover image, Robertson's strong, confident voice echoes a wide range of influences from Virgil to Edith Sitwell, yet remains unique and utterly unmistakable for that of any other writer. Brainy, witty, sensual, demonstrating a commanding grasp of language and rhetoric, DEBBIE: AN EPIC is nevertheless inviting and easy to read, even fun. Its eponymous heroine will annihilate your preconceptions about poetry - and about the name "Debbie

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Gloria · Rating 4 out of 5]

but do you ever really finish reading a Lisa Robertson poem

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

i don’t think this found me at the right time

[Maureen Thorson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poetry that plays off the idea of Roman/Greek writing, and this is no exception. The only drawback, I think, is that the combination of high-flown latinate words, labyrinthine grammar, and surrealist imagery/ideas would work better for me if it were more often punctuated by short, sharp statements. The poems here are deeply committed to maintaining this epic grammar and superstructure while simultaneously undermining it with disjointed substance that it makes my brain tired, and less capable of being surprised.

[Paul Bisagni · Rating 5 out of 5]

At several points in my reading of this book, I was working on two different poems, and would you believe that each poem featured multiple unusual words that I *then* (as in after, as in subsequently, as in I DIDN'T BORROW THESE WORDS) read IN Debbie: An Epic? Magic is real; cosmic connexions guide us all.

[S P · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Do you remember the day we wanted
to describe everything? We saw a
euphoria of trees. This was the middle
ground. Some women lounged on the clipped
grass, shadows and intelligence moving
lightly over their skin, compelled by
the trenchant discussion of sovereignty.
Others, in the background, rolled their pale
trousers to wade in the intimate sea:
their crisp gasps matched the waves. Freed scholars
strolled slowly in pairs along gravel
paths, reading from worn books the rhetoric
of perfidy. Succinct flowers thrust gauche
grammars into the air. In the upper
left corner improbable clouds grouped
and regrouped the syntax of polit
esse: The feminist sky split open.'

(Line 25-41)

**

'Ships named for women move towards description. They enter narrative as I have entered books. Whose city is this? Over wine-dark lawns swallows perform auguries and further back economy sculpts the harbour. Islands leak like ink into pockets. Dead-good queens flounce with civic tenderness: their unspooled diction drags and flirts. Slick lyric blocks history. Closure ornaments this plight. Narrative is pushing failure. I feel my gender is out there, floating wildly in that harbour.'

(Appendix: Argument)

[Renee Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5, read for class

my mind fought really hard for this high of a rating.

i really did not like the font play. it was just not there for me aesthetically nor poetically like i understand what Robertson was trying to do with challenging the epic but i feel like the fonts and images and symbols were so overkill it was really distracting and just not cohesive to the intensity of her language.

i gave it 2.5 cause there were lines in this text that were so stunning i thought i'd die.

"I want sugar but I shall never wear shame and if you call that sophistry then what is Love"

BEYOND gorgeous. but then you get to the "plot" and its like. why the fuck should i care about Debbie, you know?

really beautiful powerful work here. her selection of words is incredible, razor-sharp and so sonically rich. other elements just weighed down the actual language.

[temperance · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of art; Lisa Robertson makes you fall in love with words over and over and over. Some of my favourite parts:

“Yours are names I’d like to wear in my lungs”

“Pardon me if I throw myself absolutely outside of my sex”

“I’ve fucked things up, but I’m awake. I’ll prompt no valour, turn no prow - my story’s slight, my task’s opaque: I want to live according to that reasoned ache.”

“Proxy twins the bundled ghosts of a fop’s apocalypse.”

[error · Rating 3 out of 5]

strange and with lovely parts. the whole didn’t fully come together for me. there is a density to this. wouldn't be super surprised if I spent more time with it and got more. I would be a little surprised though. part of me thinks me and debbie went as far as we could go.

she uses the word love in fantastic ways. it is a word she commands.

[Annonkerd]

this level of intellectualism is way above me so no rating. i could feel the slay radiating off of it though

my favorite line: “And I shall defend what rhythm’s touched. And I shall live according to each resung cut. As it speaks!”

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read is book again, while annotating!

[Lila Rosen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I'm smart enough for this one, but really really incredible regardless. The language is so stunning. Def gonna require another read (or 10)

[⏺ · Rating 5 out of 5]

As all of Robertson's writing, I'm not qualified to understand it until I re-read it at least 3 times.

[zee · Rating 3 out of 5]

im feeling the vibe even though I don't understand half of it

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

(trying out recording the books i read for school on this ole thing again—i find it difficult to write notes on books too long after i read them, is the problem, and combine that with the exhaustion that comes with writing papers on said books...i mean, i chose to write not one but two papers on debbie, which i suppose speaks to how i feel about how much there is within this sharp challenging questioning pushing poem)

[J'lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shirked my responsibilities and thumbed through this last night. It's incredible and quote worthy if I weren't working.