"There is something about the very form and occasion of a letter-the possibility it offers, the chance to be as open and tentative and uncertain as one likes and also the chance to formulate certain ideas, very precisely-if one is lucky in one's thoughts," wrote James Wright, one of the great lyric poets of the last century, in a letter. A Wild Perfection is a riveting collection that captures the exhilarating and moving correspondence between Wright and his many friends. In the letters to fellow poets Donald Hall, Theodore Roethke, Galway Kinnell, James Dickey, Mary Oliver, and Robert Bly, Wright explored many subjects, poetic and personal, from his creative process to his struggles with depression and illness. Bright threads of wit, gallantry, and passion for describing his travels and his beloved natural world run through all these letters, which together form an epistolary chronicle of a significant part of the mid-century American poetry renaissance, as well as the clearest biographical picture now available of this major American poet.

Transcending arguments over the definition of fantasy literature, Rhetorics of Fantasy introduces a provocative new system of classification for the genre. Utilizing nearly two hundred examples of modern fantasy, author Farah Mendlesohn uses this system to explore how fiction writers construct their fantastic worlds. Mendlesohn posits four categories of fantasy-portal-quest, immersive, intrusion, and liminal-that arise out of the relationship of the protagonist to the fantasy world. Using these sets, Mendlesohn argues that the author's stylistic decisions are then shaped by the inescapably political demands of the category in which they choose to write. Each chapter covers at least twenty books in detail, ranging from nineteenth-century fantasy and horror to extensive coverage of some of the best books in the contemporary field. Offering a wide-ranging discussion and penetrating comparative analysis, Rhetorics of Fantasy will excite fans and provide a wealth of material for scholarly and classroom discussion.Includes discussion of works by over 100 authors, including Lloyd Alexander, Peter Beagle, Marion Zimmer Bradley, John Crowley, Stephen R. Donaldson, Stephen King, C. S. Lewis, Gregory Maguire, Robin McKinley, China Miéville, Suniti Namjoshi, Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, Sheri S. Tepper, J. R. R. Tolkien, Tad Williams

The poet employs colloquial diction, references pop and classical culture, and travels at 1000 miles per hour in his fourth collection. For those who think contemporary poetry is about abject confessions, vacation in Provence and opaque ‘academicisms,’ McDaniel is an intro to a new world.

After spending a year researching and describing the devastation of mountaintop removal in his bestselling book, Lost Mountain, Erik Reece wanted to contribute something beautiful to the world. Field Work: Modern Poems from Eastern Forests is an anthology of poems about the landscape and ecology of the eastern United States. Field Work brings together a host of nationally recognized modern American poets, plus four classical Chinese poets, who wandered and wrote about an area of southeastern China that is remarkably similar in landscape and ecology to the eastern woodlands of the United States.

Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar is an essential reference tool for any student of classical Hebrew. Apart from the thorough explanation given to each aspect of grammar and syntax, this volume contains an exhaustive scriptural index which leads the user directly to passages that stand as examples of difficult constructions. A full paradigm of the Hebrew verb is also included.

Archaeological work at 1 Poultry includes analysis of 280 burials associated with the medieval church of St Benet Sherehog and a post-Great Fire burial ground on the same location. Post-medieval coffins and coffin furniture indicate that the burial population is primarily late, with a fifth dated to before the Great Fire, although none were associated with the primary phase of the church. The parish of St Benet Sherehog pre- and post-Fire is considered in terms of the documented population, occupations and wealth, and health and mortality. This is followed by evidence for the medieval church of St Benet and the religious life of the parish. 'Death and commemoration' looks at historical and archaeological evidence for funerals and burial practices. A detailed osteological account of the 17th- to 19th-century burial sample includes comparison with contemporary London cemetery populations.

Peter Gizzi's powerful new collection fuses documentary truth with imaginative force. The Outernationale locates us "just off the grid," in an emotional and spiritual frontier, where reverie, outrage, history, and vision merge. Thinking and feeling become one in the urgent music of Gizzi's poems. Saturated with luminous detail, these original poems possess, even in their sorrowing moments, a dizzying freedom. This is both a poetry of conscience and the embodiment of a genuinely poetic consciousness. Objects, images, and their histories are caught here in their half-life, their profoundly human after-life. Gizzi has written a brilliant follow-up to Some Values of Landscape and Weather, a book hailed by Robert Creeley as "a breakthrough book in every way: for reader, for writer, and for the art."

In her third collection, Beatty travels inside the body to the blood that codes us, moving beyond the language of post-confessionialism into fourth-wave feminism, challenging notions of the “romantic” “and the “brutal” and how they exist within us and between us.

The stories in this new collection from Tom Noyes show us everyday characters weighing the evidence of their circumstances and seeking ways to understand more fully the mysteries that define their lives. The beauty of each story comes from the reckless hope of these characters, their sometimes blind faith in the possibilities of human connection. "Stories that follow truly human characters as they deal with the common problems of life, such as the death of a father and the relationship with his son, a boy struggling with illiteracy, the suicide of a loved one- all things that everyday people may deal with, but all written intriguingly to glue readers to the page. 'Spooky Action at a Distance' is deftly written and highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review "Humor, surprise, and eminently engaging narrators." NewPages.com "His command of craft allows him to unfold characters in a way that moves past mere cleverness and down into emotional tectonics of faith, affection, loyalty, and grief." - Image Magazine

The poetic masterpiece of the great nineteenth-century writer Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil is one of the most frequently read and studied works in the French language. In this compelling new translation of Baudelaire's most famous collection, Keith Waldrop recasts the poet's original French alexandrines and other poetic arrangements into versets, a form that hovers between poetry and prose. Maintaining Baudelaire's complex view of sound and structure, Waldrop's translation mirrors the intricacy of the original without attempting to replicate its inimitable verse. The result is a powerful new re-imagining, one that is, almost paradoxically, closer to Baudelaire's own poetry than any previous English translation. Including the six poems banned from the first edition, this Flowers of Evil preserves the complexity, eloquence, and dark humor of its author. Brought here to new life, it is hypnotic, frank, and forceful.

With a Foreword by Dick Vitale What can the film Hoosiers teach us about the meaning of life? How can ancient Eastern wisdom traditions, such as Taoism and Zen Buddhism, improve our jump-shots? What can the "Zen Master" (Phil Jackson) and the "Big Aristotle" (Shaquille O'Neal) teach us about sustained excellence and success? Is women's basketball "better" basketball? How, ethically, should one deal with a strategic cheater in pickup basketball? With NBA and NCAA team rosters constantly changing, what does it mean to play for the "same team"? What can coaching legends Dean Smith, Rick Pitino, Pat Summitt, and Mike Krzyzewski teach us about character, achievement, and competition? What makes basketball such a beautiful game to watch and play? In Basketball and Philosophy, a Dream Team of twenty-six academics trained in philosophy -- also diehard hoops fans -- proves that basketball is the thinking fan's sport. Whether you play basketball, coach it, or just love to watch it, this book will forever enrich your understanding and appreciation of the game.

A sequel to the award-winning Buffalo Dance, Frank X Walker's When Winter Come: The Ascension of York is a dramatic reimagining of Lewis and Clark's legendary exploration of the American West. Grounded in the history of the famous trip, Walker's vibrant account allows York -- little more than a forgotten footnote in traditional narratives -- to embody the full range of human ability, knowledge, emotion, and experience. Knowledge of the seasons unfolds to York "like a book," and he "can read moss, sunsets, the moon, and a mare's foaling time with a touch. " During the journey, York forges a spiritual connection and shares sensual delights with a Nez Perce woman, and Walker's poems capture the profound feelings of love and loss on each side of this ill-fated meeting of souls. As the perspectives of Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, and others in the party emerge, Walker also gives voice to York's knife, his hunting shirt, and the river waters that have borne thousands of travelers before and after the Lewis and Clark expedition. The alternately heartbreaking and uplifting poems in When Winter Come are told from multiple perspectives and rendered in vivid detail. When Winter Come exalts the historical persona of a slave and lifts the soul of a man; York ascends out of his chains, out of oblivion, and into flight.

The Floating Bridge, David Shumate’s second collection of prose poems, transports its readers over the chasm between the mundane and the enchanted. We traverse one bridge and find ourselves eavesdropping on Gertrude Stein and her gardener. We take the night bus to Gomorrah to have a look around. Halfway across, each bridge vanishes beneath our feet. Our world shifts. The commonplace begins to glow. We turn the page. Another bridge awaits.

The ninth collection for this Pulitzer Prize finalist, who remains as entertaining, imaginative and inventive as ever.

A standard-setting lexicon of classical languages, Freytag’s Arabic-Latin dictionary remains a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of language study or anyone seeking insight into Arabic literature. This four-volume set contains a treasure trove of information.

A standard-setting lexicon of classical languages, Freytag’s Arabic-Latin dictionary remains a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of language study or anyone seeking insight into Arabic literature. This four-volume set contains a treasure trove of information.