The Yale Review – January/February 2004
High-toned and academic, I can rely on the Yale Review to update me on the latest theories about contemporary opera, dance and art, as well as literature. The poetry and prose here are fairly traditional in form and erudite (bone up on your mythology before reading) yet rewarding.
High-toned and academic, I can rely on the Yale Review to update me on the latest theories about contemporary opera, dance and art, as well as literature. The poetry and prose here are fairly traditional in form and erudite (bone up on your mythology before reading) yet rewarding. One story that stood out for me was “The Wedding Gown” by Jean McGarry, which starts with the fascinating image of organic wedding cake: “Mary had forgotten about the cake with its collection of indigestible grains and grasses, uncured sugars…Organic was never white; it was always brown, gray, tan, gray-green; even the fruit was flawed and grim.” – and continues in a highly engrossing and original vein about two affianced young people coming to know one another more intimately. As usual, the reviews and essays on poetics forward thoughts about current literary issues. One that I read with particular interest was Craig Arnold’s “Poetry in Review,” which laments the “autopoetic” tendency of much of today’s verse – that is, the writing of poetry that is of interest, for the most part, only to one’s self – and shares this thoughts on two poets he thinks write against this tendency – the odd pairing of narrative poet Tony Hoagland and lyric Olena Kalytiak David. An issue to be savored at leisure, and with your thinking cap securely fastened. [The Yale Review, Yale University, PO Box 208243, New Haven, CT 06520-8243. Single issue $9. www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/yr] – JHG
