Baby

by Carla Harryman

Carla Harryman is the author of 11 books of poetry, prose plays and essays. Her two experimental novels, Gardener of Stars (2001) and The after Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories and Jean-Paul Sartre (1999) are “explorations of the paradise and wastelands of utopian desire.” Baby continues this exploration through the convolutions of Baby, who enters the book as “fire in the womb with a skirt.” Harryman, a native Californian, now lives in Detroit where she teaches women’s studies, creative writing and literature at Wayne State University. She has also written a number of essays on innovative writing by women. Her most recent essay, “Residues or Revolutions of the Language of Acker and Artaud,” is forthcoming Devouring Institutions (SDSU Press).

Genres: Poetry

68 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Marije de Wit · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She found what anybody could find, that after many repetitions of systems of narration and systems of objectification the distinctions between them became blurred. As the separation between object and narration became less and less obvious, webs of knowledge systems replaced stable concepts. These systems took hold in the mind, which reproduced them in variations that indicated an infinity under construction."

I can't say this quote is representative of the book, it's just one example of the brilliant thinking that it is made of. I often wondered beforehand why I could not find an informative description of this book, but I get that now that I've read it. It is published within a series that is called 'Adventures in poetry', and an adventure it is. I love having enjoyed something that I am not able to describe. Harryman seems to be at home in language so much that she can fiercely push and cross its boundaries to have it get her very particular ideas across, and still be totally legible. It also made me able to connect and relate in a intuitive way.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Baby was always hard to offend unless someone took something away from her. The kind of being least likely to take anything away from her was a teenager. Unlike children, teenagers knew better than to imitate adults. They were quite specifically rational creatures" (20).

An incredible book that I will reread for quite some time.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What must it be like to become dizzy with earth – to breathe in so suddenly, so sharply, that everything around us is sucked in too? Read this book.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this in one sitting-- it has momentum and a surplus of igniting ideas as well as exciting diction/wordplay. would like to discuss if others read (or have read) the book.

[Luis Correa · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a surprising book! It's so small, but so expansive. The words feel like they're breathing.