A. Van Jordan, an acclaimed American poet and the author of three previous volumes, "demonstrates poetry's power to be at once intimate and wide-ranging" (Robert Pinsky, Washington Post Book World). In this penetrating new work he takes us with him to the movies, where history reverberates and characters are larger than life. The Cineaste is an entrancing montage of poems, wherein film serves as the setting for contemplative trances, memoir, and pure fantasy. At its center is a sonnet sequence that imagines the struggle of pioneer filmmaker Oscar Micheaux against D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, which Micheaux saw not only as racist but also as the start of a powerful new art form. "Sharpen the focus in your lens, and you / Sharpen your view of the world; you can see / How people inhabit space in their lives, / How the skin of Negroes and whites both play / With light." Scenes and characters from films such as Metropolis, Stranger than Paradise, Last Year at Marienbad, The Red Shoes, and The Great Train Robbery also come to luminous life in this vibrant new collection. The Cineaste is an extended riff on Jordan's life as a moviegoer and a brilliant exploration of film, poetry, race, and the elusiveness of reverie.

from "Last Year at Marienbad"

A place, though visible, is like a ghost
of memories. Even memories one forgets
linger in the space in which they occurred.
Here within the expanse of vaulted ceilings,

doorways leading to more doors, hallways
leading to more halls, the faintest recollections
absorb over time; no act will wholly evanesce.

About the Author
A. Van Jordan is the author of five collections of poetry, including The Cineaste, a finalist for the NAACP Image Award, and M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and a Lannan Literary Award, among other honors. He is a professor of creative writing at Stanford University and lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews
"Ekphrastic poetry ... now includes not just fine arts but also films... [Jordan's] best book." "Rather than writing about films, Jordan remakes them-serving as audience, director, editor, he recasts characters, reshoots scenes, turns the cameras around." -- National Public Radio "The poetry elevates the film because every piece denotes feeling." "Brilliant... Every piece denotes feeling-and this is what moves us forward." -- Grace Cavalieri "The announcement of the birth of an entirely new poetics. A. Van Jordan brings the art of film and the art of poetry together in a virtuoso act of passion. This work goes beyond memorable speech into an articulation of the spirit, the hunger, the enchantment and terror of a nation and a time. In unforgettably resonant pieces this poetry creates a whole. This is one of our most important poets doing perhaps his own most important work of a lifetime." -- Laura Kasischke "For several books now, A. Van Jordan has been proving himself master of the dramatic monologue. His skill is especially dazzling in The Cineaste as he turns to cinema, that other realm of persona and projection. With an imagination illuminated by empathy, Jordan inhabits the eye of the camera, the eye of the actor, and the 'I' of a viewer tethered to image and history. These terrific poems give shape to lives made of light." -- Terrance Hayes



Book Information
ISBN 9780393348736
Author A. Van Jordan
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 191g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 13mm