Gilbert Sorrentino: New and Selected Poems, 1958-1998

by Gilbert Sorrentino

One of the most noted of American fiction writers, Gilbert Sorrentino is also a brilliant poet, and has authored some nine books of poetry, including the renowned The Orangery, first published in 1978 and republished by Sun & Moon Press in 1995. This new volume of selected poems includes the poems of the Black Sparrow edition of 1981 and the numerous new poems written in the 20 years following that volume.

Genres: Poetry, The United States Of America

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Gilbert Sorrentino was one of the founders (1956, together with Hubert Selby Jr.) and the editor (1956-1960) of the literary magazine Neon, the editor for Kulchur (1961-1963), and an editor at Grove Press (1965-1970). Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn (1964) and The Autobiography of Malcolm X are among his editorial projects. Later he took up positions at Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, the University of Scranton and the New School for Social Research in New York and then was a professor of English at Stanford University (1982-1999). The novelists Jeffrey Eugenides and Nicole Krauss were among his students, and his son, Christopher Sorrentino, is the author of the novels Sound on Sound and Trance.

Mulligan Stew is considered Sorrentino's masterpiece.

Obituary from The Guardian

Interview 2006

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Important to bear in mind the influence of William Carlos Williams, Robert Creeley, and Louis Zukofsky on Sorrentino’s poetry—see the copious essays and dazzling analyses of these poets in his non-fiction collection Something Said. Since the influence of these poets never quite left him, the Sorrentino voice we recognise from his novels is only apparent in the later works (post-1980) collected exclusively in this volume, in such fine sequences as the Oulipian homage ‘Variations for Raymond Queneau’ or the piquant ‘A Connoisseur’s Guide to the Bay Area.’ The material from his collections The Darkness Surrounds Us, The Perfect Fiction, Black & White, White Sail, and Corrosive Sublimate is dark, sparse and imagistic—for all Gil’s abhorrence of clichés as a poet he spent a lot of time writing about colours and nature, recasting the old images into fresh and bleak ones. Quite a large number of these poems escaped me in terms of meaning—not being a poetry person helps little—so the pieces either chimed with me on a superficial “feeling” level or in terms of language, metre, forms, etcetera. The later ones were more like the comedic and tender master I recognise from his novels. Was Gil an essential poet, or merely a minor one? Perhaps the latter. But a seriously essential merely minor one. (Gil completion now achieved!)

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not nearly as syntactically risky as I had hoped, but still very solidly crafted poems with all the humor, play, and precise observation of his novels.

Every word he writes seems surrounded by white space and silence.

[Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The early work is in the mode of Creeley and the side of Williams reflected in Creeley. The results are solid but not great. Then Sorrentino adds to his mix the tweeness of Stevens, Oulipian artifice, and out-and-out satire, and goes into higher gear. My high rating really applies to the work from about 1977 onward.

[George Bieber · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good poems in here but I️ was not as blown away by them as his prose. I️ will reread them in the future.

[David]

A writer who deserves more attention as a poet; the late Ric Caddel was a great admirer of his work as well.