{"product_id":"before-and-after-the-darkness-susan-noble-9781910301135","title":"Before and After the Darkness: Selected Poems","description":"\u003cb\u003eBefore and After the Darkness\u003c\/b\u003e is the companion volume to the collections \u003ci\u003eInside the Stretch of the Heart\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Dream of Stairs: A Poem Cycle\u003c\/i\u003e. The last of these was privately printed as a posthumous memorial volume in 1975, a year after Susan Noble's untimely death in 1974 at the age of 31.\u003cp\u003e Susan wrote the poems in batches of half a dozen or more, from 1965 onwards, in what she described as manic bursts of creativity, announcing with her typically light-hearted ironic self-depreciation, 'The muse has struck me!' But these poems are anything but light-hearted, and even a first reading will reveal clearly that levity is not on the menu in a universe 'Where there are no jokes \/ And people do not pretend.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Susan's output in the final ten years of her life was prolific and to mark the fortieth anniversary of her death, the poems in this present collection have been published for the first time, together with a revised, expanded edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Dream of Stairs\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Three other volumes are being simultaneously published: \u003ci\u003eCollected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e, incorporating the above three poetry collections in one volume; and two prose works: \u003ci\u003eA Flock of Blackbirds\u003c\/i\u003e, featuring a selection of Susan's short stories and novellas, and her novel \u003ci\u003eDrifting Between Empty Tramlines\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany of the poems in \u003cb\u003eBefore and After the Darkness\u003c\/b\u003e and \u003ci\u003eInside the Stretch of My Heart\u003c\/i\u003e are triggered by the quotidian experience of living and working in central London in the late 1960s and early 1970s, yet beneath the fragile surface of her acute observations of domestic and office life in the city, intensely spiritual insights are being played out, sometimes delicately, sometimes shockingly, but always movingly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProfits from the sales of all six volumes are being donated to three charities: Mind, the Samaritans and Sane. Facsimiles of the original typescripts and manuscripts are available online at: \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewww.aesopbooks.com\/susannobl\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Susan Noble\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1910301132\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781910301135\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Aesop Poets, an Imprint of Aesop Publications\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 07\/21\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 104\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.31lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.25d\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Susan Noble","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48442631127295,"sku":"9781910301135","price":13.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_613e0145-086d-4ee3-85d3-86760729814e.jpg?v=1777198701","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/before-and-after-the-darkness-susan-noble-9781910301135","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}