Book description
Turning bare description into a luxuriance, The Known World looks at
the complex relationship of past and present, creating energetic
juxtaposition between different historic periods to envision life at the
end of our own century. Don Bogen calls the work an archeology, and uses
details f life in past eras as a way of penetrating the surfaces of
history. In his account, everything known is both encumbered with and
defined by the past. Short poems in this collection cohere around the
long title poem, which explores the nineteenth century through more than
thirty sections in different voices and styles, including lists, mock
letters, brief narratives, and lyric passages. The result is lively and
illuminating. DON BOGEN is Associate Professor of English at the
University of Cincinnati and author of A Necessary Order (1991) and the
prize-winning book of poetry, After the Splendid Display (1986).
