By the Waters of Manhattan (A Black Sparrow Book)
I am thrilled with it. This book has so much in it that marks Reznikoff as a first-rate artist. --William Carlos WilliamsCharles Reznikoff (1894-1976) writes prose like a poet, indeed he is one,with his rock-hard choice of words styled into deceptively simple sentences.Deceptive because when juxtaposed, each sentence accelerating into the next,they relay condensed lives, jammed with emotion, kin, and striving. Lopate's tenderand eloquent introduction sets the record straight for this under-acknowledged literarymaster: '...the shocks of fortune laid out and the aftershocks allowed to register in thereader's mind, with no attempt to milk emotion.' --Betsy Sussler, BOMB magazineMr. Reznikoff's work is remarkable and original in American literature.... He has written the first story of the Jewish immigrant that is not false. --Lionel Trilling