The inescapable reality of death has given rise to much of literature's most profound and moving work. D. J. Enright's wonderfully eclectic selection presents the words of poet and novelist, scientist and philosopher, mystic and sceptic. And alongside these 'professional' writers, he allows the voices of ordinary people to be heard; for this is a subject on which there are no real experts and wisdom lies in many unexpected places.
The distinguished poet, essayist and critic D. J. Enright died on the last day of December 2002. He had just put the finishing touches to Injury Time, a memoir and his third commonplace book in which the dying writer muses upon his own condition and that of the world he knows he is leaving. Comparing himself to the Chinese scholar Sima Qian, who chose an 'ignoble punishment' (in Dennis Enright's case, treatment for his cancer; in Qian's, castration) over respectable death in order to finish a book, he contemplates literature, manners, morals, people and, especially, the English language in all its glories and eccentricities - while recording his battle against cancer and his hospital experiences. Moving, and at times deeply poignant, imbued with its author's legendary humanity and wit, Injury Time is, nevertheless, funny, bracing and, above all, positive.
A commonplace book by its very nature, must be unique; D. J. Enright's proves to be a mixture of personal, critical, playful, and profound. It is a commerce between the author and many other authors, touching, for instance, on childhood, young murderers, the use and abuse of stereotypes,modern biography, ars erotica, contemporary manners, old age, animals, obsolete notions of integrity in business and government, and the machinery of dreaming. A common reader himself, and as light of heart as the subject will allow, the author explores such prose poets as Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Freud. He looks into the world of books, contemporary Grub Street, the eccentricities of criticism, the reductive tendency of current fiction, literarytheory and practice, and the necessity and impracticability of censorship. There are also some new poems in a work that is amusing, and thought-provoking, and highly revealing of Enright himself. Some extracts... 'Voltaire, giving a lesson in tragic diction to a young actress who lacked fire: "My dear young lady, act as though the devil were in you! What would you do if a cruel tyrant had just separated you from your lover? She answered: "I would take another."' 'Biography, the great growth industry, the stealer of review space, the crowder-out of bookshops...' 'Given the depravity of adults, we can only hope that children are not as innocent as probably most of them are.'
A professor of English who has taught in such countries as Germany, Egypt and Japan, D.J. Enright has published books of poetry, books for children, novels, and numerous volumes of critical essays and memoirs. Known for his wise, wry and perceptive work, this highly skilled and cunning craftsman tackles social, political, and literary topics with high intelligence and humor. Enright's poetry possesses the power for engaged commentary and is a welcome reminder that poetry finds its vitality, not in theories, but in the experiences of personal life and history. This selection of poems, made with advice from the author, will serve as the ideal introduction to the work of this distinguished and prolific poet, novelist, anthologist, and critic.
Here is the perfect cat book for Christmas: a great story by a gifted writer, with 96 four-color paintings. Possessed of myriad pearls of cat wisdom, the sage cat Kuching takes the young and inexperienced Sunshine under his paws and teaches him the ways of the cat.
