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Mole Notes
Book by Michael Benedikt
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
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October 30, 2015
As a lover of prose poems, I find Benedikt's concept to be very unique; using the humble character of a mole to commentate on the absurdity, idiocy, madness and vanity of the human race. By using his character in this way, the poet creates a kind of narrative arc which is very rare to this hybrid literary form.
But my problem is with Benedikt's style, which almost reads like a Transatlantic accent: very polite, very droll and also, unfortunately, somewhat dull. In prose poems, I prefer a bold and radical voice--like Edson's--that would seem over-the-top to the average reader; the compression and lucidity of the prose poem, when executed exceptionally, affords such stylistic extravagances. Being that Benedikt is pretty much the opposite of this in terms of style, I can only respect this book's ambitions without really enjoying it.
But my problem is with Benedikt's style, which almost reads like a Transatlantic accent: very polite, very droll and also, unfortunately, somewhat dull. In prose poems, I prefer a bold and radical voice--like Edson's--that would seem over-the-top to the average reader; the compression and lucidity of the prose poem, when executed exceptionally, affords such stylistic extravagances. Being that Benedikt is pretty much the opposite of this in terms of style, I can only respect this book's ambitions without really enjoying it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review