{"product_id":"melancholy-occurrence-john-seed-9781848615816","title":"melancholy occurrence","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003emelancholy occurrence\u003c\/em\u003e is the latest in a series of texts through which John Seed investigates the appropriation and reconfiguring of historical materials. Previous volumes in the series include \u003cem\u003ePictures from Mayhew\u003c\/em\u003e (Shearsman, 2005) about which Allen Fisher said: 'The substance of this work is astonishing, vivid, felt with a considerable and sensitive intelligence.' Its successor, \u003cem\u003eThat Barrikins\u003c\/em\u003e, (Shearsman, 2007) was commended by Iain Sinclair for its 'reverse archaeology' 'His close ear, and neurotic sensitivity to the way a line breaks, reveals how, in the desperate grind of the city, confession aspires to the condition of song.' And David Caddy commented on the most recent, \u003cem\u003eBrandon Pithouse\u003c\/em\u003e (Smokestack, 2016): 'The singular fragments, juxtaposed and in disjunction, accumulate to produce a deeply moving montage of statistics and documentary experience. The rhythms and cadence of the vernacular emerge in both pain and humour...' (\u003cem\u003eTears in the Fence\u003c\/em\u003e, 2016).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003emelancholy occurrences \u003c\/em\u003e: accidents and disasters, random events, contingencies, chance, coincidence, everything that a Western propensity for generalisation, explanation and meaning pushes to the margins. These are, we might almost say, moments of an anti-novel, brief narratives in a larger anti-narrative. They certainly owe something to a sustained reading of the \u003cem\u003enouveau roman\u003c\/em\u003e and, in particular, the wonderful (and neglected) writing of Claude Simon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElective affinities to Roland Barthes are also signalled from the beginning, especially his reflections on how the haiku resists interpretation. It is intelligible and means nothing: 'The haiku's task is to achieve exemption from meaning within a perfectly readerly discourse (a contradiction denied to Western art, which can contest meaning only by rendering its discourse incomprehensible)...' (\u003cem\u003eEmpire of Signs\u003c\/em\u003e, 1982).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John Seed\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1848615817\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781848615816\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Shearsman Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/15\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 158\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.53lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.37d","brand":"John Seed","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48486200541439,"sku":"9781848615816","price":23.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_729d7de3-c922-4581-ad1a-4750143c41b5.jpg?v=1778054318","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/melancholy-occurrence-john-seed-9781848615816","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}