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The
New Pornography,
Patrick Chapman's second collection, takes the reader on
a perverse and darkly humourous trip. America, viruses, a
fear of falling satellites, the uterus as birthday present
... a baby born backwards into the womb - this new collection takes
as a starting point some of the themes of Chapman's acclaimed Jazztown,
while exploring strange and wonderful new directions of its own.
About
the Author
Patrick
Chapman was born in 1968 and lives in Dublin, where he works
as a copywriter. His first collection Jazztown was
published by Raven Arts Press in 1991. In 1995, he was shortlisted
for a Hennessy Literary Award. Chapman has recently
begun writing fiction.
Praise
for The New Pornography
"Patrick Chapman's first collection, Jazztown, was published by
Raven Arts Press about five years ago. The New Pornography is
a darkly humorous collection divided into five sections with faintly
Gothic headings, among them 'Necropolis Chic', 'Blind Voyeur',
'Disease Variations', this last containing poems with equally
disturbing titles such as 'I Am John's Virus', 'Viral', 'In Extremis',
and including a poem entitled 'Robert Mapplethorpe: Aspects of
Self-Portrait 1988':
The dressing gown becomes a coffin;
The large leather armchair, a fire.
The crown-embroidered slippers walk away.
Thankfully, it's not all shadow and heaviness, though it must
be said that in Chapman's darkest poems, a sense of compassion
redeems things. Small, funny poems pop up here and there. But
overall, Chapman's stylish and crafted pessimism assumes dominance.
There is a linguistic bravery evident in these poems which augurs
well for later work."
The Irish Times
"Particular
poems are startling in their originality, humour and sparseness
of language."
The Irish Emigrant, Online webzine
Jazztown
"A remarkably confident, not to say swaggering, debut for a
poet still in his early twenties." The Irish Times
"A
sharp and startling debut it surely is. His urban vignettes, while
appearing relaxed, are honed down till every word pays its way."
Books Ireland
"First
collection by a young writer who refuses to play safe. Wonderful,
original, modern fables are encountered in this book. One of the
few books around which is compelling to read. 'Heathaze'
is a small triumph of perfect rhythm and original observation
and 'The Walls Replied' quivers with emotion, but 'Night Landing'
is easily my favourite. The opening is brilliant: 'In her nightdress
is the pattern of a ghost./There are twenty and a half small spirits
sewn into/the nylon...' and any writer who can come up with something
like that...has a rare ability to startle." The Steeple
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