1999
First Published
4.19
Average Rating
136
Number of Pages
Troubled Lovers in History demonstrates an exhilarating from the briefest of lyrics to rich and multipartite narrative adventures in exotic realms; from a comic monologue spoken in immigrant “Yinglish” to a soulful elegy set in San Antonio’s Pearl Beer brewery plant; from Martian invaders, through polar explorers, to all of us busy inflicting “words with edges” on those we love. Goldbarth sets his unflinching study of individual hope and grief against the backdrop of the travels of Marco Polo; Bertha and Wilhelm Rontgen’s discovery of X-rays; an 1800 battle “twixt Dragon Sam, the great Exhaler of Gouts of Amazing Flame . . . and Liquid Dan, the Living Geyser.” From the night stars to the little starring parts we all play every day, Troubled Lovers in History takes us into the text of our dreams and despairs, as witnessed by the writer whom Joyce Carol Oates called “a poet of remarkable gifts—a dazzling virtuoso who can break your heart.”
Avg Rating
4.19
Number of Ratings
21
5 STARS
52%
4 STARS
29%
3 STARS
10%
2 STARS
5%
1 STARS
5%
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