The Return of Artz Carbuncle: A Poem in Prose and Verse
The Return of Artz Carbuncle: A Poem in Prose and Verse
A Poet Reflects on the Growth and Transformations of the Self
The Return of Artz Carbuncle: A Poem in Prose and Verse presents an unusual variation on many of the themes of contemporary poetry. It is the third volume in a series of books devoted to the writings of a fictive poet who goes by the stage name of Artz Carbuncle. Artz dedicates this work to 'Mr. B, ' his friend and literary advisor, "in the hope that it may help him to hear another man tell his story."
The five sections of The Return of Artz Carbuncle develop a version of Nietzsche's portrayal in Thus Spoke Zarathustra of three metamorphoses of the spirit: from a beast of burden, to defiant lion in the desert, to the self-becoming creativity of a child. Even so, the book is the darkest of the selections of Artz' writing. It grapples with moral, psychological and social issues in the context of the increasing stresses and failures of American culture and values during the early years of the twenty-first century. These issues are portrayed in the individual experiences of the author's literary persona, as he reflects on his own and his friend's struggles with personal identity and integrity. As Artz notes elsewhere, his relationship with Mr. B has developed in such a way that the pronouns 'you' and 'I' no longer serve to distinguish them.
Three of the book's five sections are prose narratives. The first, portraying the efforts of Professor A.I. Roomer to draft an address to the Convention of Philosophers of Rhetorical Enquiry, is a sympathetic if deeply satirical view of academic life and striving. The second prose piece also engages an academic context: it reveals the relationship between Professor Remoor (an archaeologist studying the abandoned desert community of Yellow Sty) and an indigenous local named Sonairda who is devoted to a belief in the power of nature to defy rational expectation. The third narrative celebrates the innocent wisdom of a child's relation to the natural world.
These narratives separate two extended collections of poems; the first, "Songs of Self Love and Other Academic Exercises," explores the psychological and cultural nature of personal identity by expanding a vision of the self as a multifaceted complex of personal traits. The second set of poems, "Kinderszenen," portrays the awakening and growth of personality, its shaping by childhood experience.
The book should appeal to serious students of contemporary literature, including formal poetic traditions as well as more popular lyric forms. The Return in the title refers to both a new work by the fictional poet and his attempt to repay his friend Mr. B for years of support and encouragement. A further implication lies in the poems' revisiting of earlier life events, a reconstruction of their meaning in an attempt to move forward in life.
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