Under Albany - Softcover

Ron Silliman's latest book, Under Albany (Salt Publishing, 2004), is a brilliant series of autobiographical, deep background vignettes that explicate – no, enrich each of the 100 sentences of his 1981 poem Albany. It is detailed, moving, exasperating, romantic, heartfelt and delicious. For anyone interested in recent literary history and leftist politics, this is a must read.

Under Albany shows us that “Albany,” a representative of Silliman’s characteristically language-centered work, is not a product of random language, chance operation, or chaos, a charge often directed at writing like this. Rather, it is a profoundly complex exploration of the mind and emotion that is directly connected to the world and experience from which it emerges.

Small Press Traffic “Book of the Year 2004”. This memoir provides an exquisitely rich exploration of the relation of context to reference, subtext to meaning, back story to presented experience, and composition to poetics. All of Silliman’s work unravels and reforms in this exemplary and exhilarating act of attention, recollection, and reflection.