Dime-Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell

by Charles Simic

Book Overview

Now in Paperback In Dime-Store Alchemy , poet Charles Simic reflects on the life and work of Joseph Cornell, the maverick surrealist who is one of America's great artists. Simic's spare prose is as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1590174860
• ISBN13: 9781590174869
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: New York Review of Books
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

If you loved the Cornell show at the Peaboday- Essex

Then you will love this book of short essays and responses to Joseph Cornell's work by our Poet Laureate. It's amll and without a dustjacket, quite elegant and easy to take with you to read when you find yourself with a few spare minutes.

Dime Store Alchemy: The Art of Joseph Cornell

This elegant book reminded me of "Einstien's Dreams." The book is about the genius of imagination. Cornell's provincial life gave him the opportunity to observe his world closely and let it expand into his art. The writing by the poet Simic is a piece of art in itself.

Delicious!!

Reading Dime-Store Alchemy is a fine way to get to know Joseph Cornell's work (and of course Charles Simic's). Simic uses a writing style which pieces together different elements of Cornell's favorite authors and poets, beautifully reflecting the montage operation created by Cornell himself. As Simic ambiguously reveals aspects of Cornell's life in New York City, the reader finds him/herself on the same search for an understanding of beauty that the artist spent his entire life investigating. Don't miss it!