An informative, entertaining, candid and occasionally surprising panopticon of a book.
An interview is evidence (of respect, of attention, and of what – so the maker thinks – went to the making). Like all evidence, an interview may be misunderstood, untrustworthy, or irrelevant – but not, except within the law, inadmissible. And there is no substitute for evidence.
These [seven interviews with contemporary American poets] are the real thing, kept lively, it may be, by a vigilant memory of the request for an interview that was put to Samuel Beckett by a good friend. 'No', Beckett said, 'not even for you, and in any case I have no views to inter.’ – from the introduction by Christopher Ricks
‘Essential reading for admirers of these poets ...vigorous, illuminating and sometimes surprising adjuncts to the work itself.’
– Neil Corcoran
An interview is evidence (of respect, of attention, and of what – so the maker thinks – went to the making). Like all evidence, an interview may be misunderstood, untrustworthy, or irrelevant – but not, except within the law, inadmissible. And there is no substitute for evidence.
These [seven interviews with contemporary American poets] are the real thing, kept lively, it may be, by a vigilant memory of the request for an interview that was put to Samuel Beckett by a good friend. 'No', Beckett said, 'not even for you, and in any case I have no views to inter.’ – from the introduction by Christopher Ricks
‘Essential reading for admirers of these poets ...vigorous, illuminating and sometimes surprising adjuncts to the work itself.’
– Neil Corcoran