Hi All,
Not sure you are all going to get to Bluets by Maggie Nelson. But if you have a chance in the future, I highly, highly recommend it. The book sort of blew my mind the first time I read it, and since then I've taught it three or four times (spoiler alert: it's got some downright explicit sexual confessions here. I mean *really* confessional. So Loryn, maybe not for your high school students! I don't teach it to undergrads either, but I should). Anyway, now that I've got your attention (ha ha), I can continue and say that what I love about this book is that it's a highly intellectual, rich, researched, smart discussion of the history of the color blue in art, but also philosophy, depression and loss, a broken love affair, etc. It has so many tones of blue and these feeling tones match the color. It also manages to have lines that, excerpted from the book and put on the page alone, would be so sappy (like a hallmark card). But for some reason their placement in the book is devastating. Same with the sexual confessions. They are shocking and seemingly come out of no where. But as soon as they appear, they recede. This book is densely braided (many strands) and it builds on so many levels. I have never read a book quite like this. There is so much to admire, but I admit it's not for everyone. People find Claudia Rankine more accessible than Nelson. For those who want a narrative, the book might disappoint in its lack of answers. Who is the Prince of Blue? Why does she call him this? What actually happened between them? Why does she desire the things she desires? No answer. So, it's a tiny, shattered window into a mind/body and life. Sparkling like auto-glass squares on the pavement. Perhaps that is an extreme metaphor. When I read this book it opened up an idea of what is possible in this genre. I hope it gives all of you some ideas.
Not sure you are all going to get to Bluets by Maggie Nelson. But if you have a chance in the future, I highly, highly recommend it. The book sort of blew my mind the first time I read it, and since then I've taught it three or four times (spoiler alert: it's got some downright explicit sexual confessions here. I mean *really* confessional. So Loryn, maybe not for your high school students! I don't teach it to undergrads either, but I should). Anyway, now that I've got your attention (ha ha), I can continue and say that what I love about this book is that it's a highly intellectual, rich, researched, smart discussion of the history of the color blue in art, but also philosophy, depression and loss, a broken love affair, etc. It has so many tones of blue and these feeling tones match the color. It also manages to have lines that, excerpted from the book and put on the page alone, would be so sappy (like a hallmark card). But for some reason their placement in the book is devastating. Same with the sexual confessions. They are shocking and seemingly come out of no where. But as soon as they appear, they recede. This book is densely braided (many strands) and it builds on so many levels. I have never read a book quite like this. There is so much to admire, but I admit it's not for everyone. People find Claudia Rankine more accessible than Nelson. For those who want a narrative, the book might disappoint in its lack of answers. Who is the Prince of Blue? Why does she call him this? What actually happened between them? Why does she desire the things she desires? No answer. So, it's a tiny, shattered window into a mind/body and life. Sparkling like auto-glass squares on the pavement. Perhaps that is an extreme metaphor. When I read this book it opened up an idea of what is possible in this genre. I hope it gives all of you some ideas.
This is one of my favorite works, ever. I enjoyed revisiting it for this class. I agree with everything you have said. For some reason, I always think of Bluets and Anne Carson as in the same type of linguistic control vein, and Bluets always throws me to the Glass Essay (though Bluets is better) and vice versa. You are right, it is the book as a whole that is slaying, not bits and pieces of it, It is exquisite.
ReplyDeleteI have just started and am obsessed. I loved Dont Let Me Be Lonely, and found parts of that devastating, as well, and The Glass Essay is the first poem/essay i ever loved, way back when. No wonder I am drawn to Bluets, as well. I also love the beautiful form in both of these books, something about the squares/blocks of text on the page. Nelson's book gives me ideas of my own, too. To turn around a color like that-- an object, idea, a prism--and then braid. It's gorgeous. I will not share it with my high school students, two of whom burst into tears of passion immediately following Nick Flynn's visit last week. Jimminy Christmas. At least they love hard, right? :) Ah, those kids. Rock.
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