Thalia Field

I originally wrote this review on 13 April 2006:

I was assigned this book for a writing class, and I confess that I have very little idea of what is going on in it. I kept asking classmates if they could explain a section to me, only to be disappointed when they weren't sure, either! It is an extremely difficult book to grasp as a whole.

However, it is absolutely beautiful. I might not know what Field is trying to say, but I can look at the pages for hours and enjoy how she says it. The layouts of the various pieces mimic the standard styles for other types of writing, while twisting them to suit Field's purpose. Within these pieces, the words themselves seem to be placed to mimic the traditional while saying something completely new, much like the layouts. Examples: the "content" section at the beginning, the "first lines" at the end - both fairly standard for a book of poetry, but with text that does not play the standard role. Instead, these are whole pieces to themselves.

Point and Line requires several reads to fully appreciate it, and I look forward to doing so.… (altro)