The Georgia Review – Summer 2005

The summer edition of The Georgia Review is dedicated to “the art of the rant,” an idea that is, without exception, brilliantly explored in this outstanding issue. The topic is broadly interpreted, from frenetically paced poetry to a father’s tense conversation with his disturbed daughter to Robert Cohen’s essay that discusses the necessity of “going to the extreme limit.”

The summer edition of The Georgia Review is dedicated to “the art of the rant,” an idea that is, without exception, brilliantly explored in this outstanding issue. The topic is broadly interpreted, from frenetically paced poetry to a father’s tense conversation with his disturbed daughter to Robert Cohen’s essay that discusses the necessity of “going to the extreme limit.” I especially enjoyed G.C. Waldrep’s long poem, “The Batteries,” Joanna Goodman’s stunning prose poem, “Rounds: After Pascal,” and Robin Becker’s “Against Pleasure”: “All films end badly. / Paintings taunt with their smug convictions. / In the dark, Worry wraps her long legs / around me, promises to be mine forever.” Other standouts include Frederick Busch’s short story “Mental Fatigue” and Robert Cohen’s “The Piano Has Been Drinking: On the Art of the Rant”: “Plath’s poem [“Daddy”], for all its brilliance, is disproportionate and therefore in both ethical and aesthetic terms at least partly (perhaps usefully) stupid: the emotional energy gained from its awful, obscene conflation is a cheap high. And yet it’s a hell of a rant.” The issue also includes a striking portfolio of artwork by Gaela Erwin, titled “Self-Portraits as Saints,” and a good selection of book reviews. I highly recommend this installment of The Georgia Review, a typically stellar magazine that reaches new heights with its homage to the rant. [The Georgia Review, Gilbert Hall, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-9009. E-mail: [email protected]. Single issue $9. thegeorgiareview.com ] —Laura van den Berg