Description
Aurochs and Auks is a deeply moving and intelligent meditation on the natural processes of death and extinction, renewal and continuity. Prompted by his own near-death in a time of pandemic, John Burnside explores the history of the auroch (Bos primigenius), the wild cattle that has become the source of so much sacred and cultural imagery across Europe, from the Minotaur and the Cretan bull dances to Spanish corrida traditions. He then tells the story of the Great Auk, a curious bird whose extinction in the mid-nineteenth century was caused by human persecution and before stepping into multiple extinctions of the outer and inner world.
About the Author
John Burnside is a poet and novelist who was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He attended Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, where he studied English and European languages. A computer analyst and software engineer for many years, Burnside began publishing poetry in the 1980s. His collections of poetry include The Hoop (1988); Common Knowledge (1991), which won the Scottish Arts Council Book Award; Feast Days (1992), winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; The Asylum Dance (2000), winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award and shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Poetry and the T.S. Eliot Prize; The Light Trap (2002); The Good Neighbour (2005); Gift Songs (2007); The Hunt in the Forest (2009); and Black Cat Bone (2011), which won both the Forward Prize for Poetry and the T.S. Eliot Prize. In 2008, Burnside received the Cholmondeley Award. Burnside's prose works include the collection of short stories Burning Elvis (2000), several novels including the novella Havergey, and two memoirs. The Devil's Footprints (2007) was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and A Summer of Drowning (2011) was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. A former writer-in-residence at Dundee University, Burnside currently teaches at the University of St. Andrews.
Reviews
Written with both erudite ire and a longing soul, this is a work of a beautiful mind - Jay Griffiths
Book Information
ISBN 9781908213891
Author John Burnside
Format Hardback
Imprint Little Toller Books
Publisher Little Toller Books
About the Author
John Burnside is a poet and novelist who was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He attended Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, where he studied English and European languages. A computer analyst and software engineer for many years, Burnside began publishing poetry in the 1980s. His collections of poetry include The Hoop (1988); Common Knowledge (1991), which won the Scottish Arts Council Book Award; Feast Days (1992), winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize; The Asylum Dance (2000), winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award and shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Poetry and the T.S. Eliot Prize; The Light Trap (2002); The Good Neighbour (2005); Gift Songs (2007); The Hunt in the Forest (2009); and Black Cat Bone (2011), which won both the Forward Prize for Poetry and the T.S. Eliot Prize. In 2008, Burnside received the Cholmondeley Award. Burnside's prose works include the collection of short stories Burning Elvis (2000), several novels including the novella Havergey, and two memoirs. The Devil's Footprints (2007) was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and A Summer of Drowning (2011) was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. A former writer-in-residence at Dundee University, Burnside currently teaches at the University of St. Andrews.
Reviews
Written with both erudite ire and a longing soul, this is a work of a beautiful mind - Jay Griffiths
Book Information
ISBN 9781908213891
Author John Burnside
Format Hardback
Imprint Little Toller Books
Publisher Little Toller Books
