The Invention of Influence (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780811221726)

Peter Cole has been called "an inspired writer" (The Nation) and "one of the handful of authentic poets of his own American generation" (Harold Bloom). In this, his fourth book of poems, he presents a ramifying vision of human linkage. At the heart of the collection stands the stunning title poem, which brings us into the world of Victor Tausk, a maverick and tragic early disciple of Freud who wrote about one of his patients' mental inventions -- an "influence machine" that controlled his thoughts. In Cole's symphonic poem, this machine becomes a haunting image for the ways in which tradition and the language of others shape so much of what we think and say. The shorter poems in this rich and surprising volume treat the dynamics of coupling, the curiously varied nature of perfection, the delights of the senses, the perils of poetic vocation, and more.

Author: Peter Cole
ISBN-10: 0811221725
ISBN-13: 9780811221726
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Language: English
Published: 01/29/2014
Pages: 128
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.60d
Award: National Jewish Book Award - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/03/2014
Foreword 02/27/2014
Booklist 02/15/2014 pg. 12
Library Journal 04/15/2014 pg. 85