Synopses & Reviews
With a new introduction by Calvin Bedient
Claudia Rankines second poetry collection, The End of the Alphabet, is an inquiry into despair and recovery, selfhood and alienation. Centered on a heroine named Jane, these poems — obsessive, intrepid, erotic — speak in the aftermath of a life-altering tragedy, attempting to make peace with loss and find redemption through mourning. Rankine writes with unflinching attention to exterior detail and emotional nuance, as well as with linguistic and formal innovation, crafting an extraordinarily powerful, utterly unique portrait of sorrow and strength.
Review
"Harrowing and hallucinogenic....Rankine's is a singular voice....one must admire the risks she takes." Library Journal
Review
"It is not facts or events but the experiencing of them that counts here....the writing never summarizes or reduces these to simples, leaving them instead in the full complexity in which they are encountered." Lyn Hejinian
Review
"This is a long look into the enervating dark of a postmodern soul fissured by loss. But this is not so much a depressing celebration of darkness as it is an attempt at healing." Ploughshares
About the Author
Claudia Rankine is the author of five books of poetry, including Citizen: An American Lyric, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and teaches at Pomona College.