A flawed but original and striking comparison of an Eastern mystic with Western poets.
A writer examines Western poetry through the lens of an Eastern mystic.
After spending over a decade studying the philosophy and ashrams of Abhinavagupta, an influential Indian mystic affiliated with the nondualist tradition of Trika Shaivism, Franklin was struck by “surprising analogies between the metaphysics and aesthetics” of the mystic and the works of English Romantic and American Neo-Romantic poets. Despite contrived narratives of East versus West and the West’s intellectual proclivity to put even the most abstract spiritual ideas into “categorical niches,” the author believes all great works of art, including Western poetry, are “preceded by a kind of powerful, preconscious, synoptic intuition” that connects the poets to a greater spiritual consciousness beyond themselves. The book begins with a lengthy introduction to Abhinavagupta’s metaphysical philosophies, which Franklin believes are too often ignored both in the West and India in favor of his more well-known writings on aesthetics. The volume’s largest chapter is devoted to the work of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Wallace Stevens. In detailed, stanza-by-stanza analyses of a myriad of Stevens’ poems, the author makes compelling analogies between Abhinavagupta’s centuries-old philosophies and the 20th-century works of the American poet. Though it is clear Franklin has a preference for, and perhaps even a spiritual connection to, Stevens, other chapter-length comparisons are made between Abhinavagupta and the English Romantic poets John Keats, Percy Shelley, and William Blake. Particular emphasis is placed on Blake’s notion of “the Poetic Genius,” which does not suggest that a poet acts as a “passive medium or channeler taking dictation from heavenly voices.” Blake’s views correspond with the author’s own brand of metaphysics that believes that Eastern mystics like Abhinavagupta and Western poets “tap into this power of the ongoing act of Consciousness as pure, self-knowing awareness” and that their “acts of imagination” are “energized by this ineffable power.”
Similar intriguing connections between East and West are made beyond the realm of poetry. For example, both the Christian saint Teresa of Avila and the Indian saint Ramakrishna share ecstatic visions of a spiritual plane and energy beyond themselves, be it with the Christians’ Jesus or the Hindus’ Divine Mother. Though Franklin deliberately sets himself apart from scholars (whom he disparages as “academic high priests”), he studied verse at Harvard, obtained an MFA in creative writing from Brown University, earned an MA in English literature from Columbia University, and has published two books of poetry. Indeed, his analysis of 19th- and 20th-century poetry is as learned and sophisticated as one would find in an academic publication, just without the footnotes to other scholars. His in-depth examination of the works of Stevens is particularly erudite and may even contain valuable revelations of interest to the academic scholars Franklin dismisses. But those without a strong background in Hinduism and Eastern mysticism may get lost in a sea of obscure references and esoteric philosophies. The book also needs more historical context, both of the Indian and Hindu period in which Abhinavagupta was active and the 19th-century social upheaval that gave rise to Romantic poetry. Though full of fresh insights made between the unlikely pairing of Abhinavagupta and Western poetry, the volume is at times repetitive, particularly in the author’s coy declarations that he is not a scholar.
A flawed but original and striking comparison of an Eastern mystic with Western poets. (selected bibliography, author bio)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9818636-9-6
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Nicasio Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.
In which the veteran humorist enters middle age with fine snark but some trepidation as well.
Mortality is weighing on Sedaris (Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002, 2017, etc.), much of it his own, professional narcissist that he is. Watching an elderly man have a bowel accident on a plane, he dreaded the day when he would be the target of teenagers’ jokes “as they raise their phones to take my picture from behind.” A skin tumor troubled him, but so did the doctor who told him he couldn’t keep it once it was removed. “But it’s my tumor,” he insisted. “I made it.” (Eventually, he found a semitrained doctor to remove and give him the lipoma, which he proceeded to feed to a turtle.) The deaths of others are much on the author’s mind as well: He contemplates the suicide of his sister Tiffany, his alcoholic mother’s death, and his cantankerous father’s erratic behavior. His contemplation of his mother’s drinking—and his family’s denial of it—makes for some of the most poignant writing in the book: The sound of her putting ice in a rocks glass increasingly sounded “like a trigger being cocked.” Despite the gloom, however, frivolity still abides in the Sedaris clan. His summer home on the Carolina coast, which he dubbed the Sea Section, overspills with irreverent bantering between him and his siblings as his long-suffering partner, Hugh, looks on. Sedaris hasn’t lost his capacity for bemused observations of the people he encounters. For example, cashiers who say “have a blessed day” make him feel “like you’ve been sprayed against your will with God cologne.” But bad news has sharpened the author’s humor, and this book is defined by a persistent, engaging bafflement over how seriously or unseriously to take life when it’s increasingly filled with Trump and funerals.
Sedaris at his darkest—and his best.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-39238-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
PROFILES
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