Robinson alone
By: Kathleen Rooney
Publisher: Gold Wake Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: [Boston, MA]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 132
ISBN-13: 9780983700142
Subjects: Poetry; American poetry
Description: Poetry. "Meet Robinson, the protagonist of Kathleen Rooney's brilliant novel-in-poems ROBINSON ALONE. Conjured up by Weldon Kees and set loose in an urban landscape, Robinson reflects and refracts mid-century American kitsch, optimism, and despair. 'What do you / think the post-war world will be like?' he asks, via Rooney's revisions and erasures of Kees' own letters. Lyrical and detailed, precise and ornate, Rooney's genre-bending text showcases an obsession with literary history. At once repulsed by Midwestern provincialism and fearful of urban excess, 'There's still as much of yesterday / as there is of tomorrow in all he does today.'"?Carol Guess "Kathleen Rooney is one of the best writers of her still youthful generation. Whether working in memoir, essay, fiction, or verse, she writes in a style that is strikingly original and immediately recognizable for the high-spirited energy of its surface and an undertow of emotion that is sometimes elegiac. Even when part of the art in this book is that of the ventriloquist, both of these qualities can be found in Rooney's Robinson poems, a sustained work based on her long engagement with the poetry of Weldon Kees. Kees was for a long time a poet's poet for a generation now itself growing old, so it is a fine thing to have his signature character examined and re-animated by a young poet as good as Rooney is."?John Matthias "Kathleen Rooney's ROBINSON ALONE is a blood brother to the historical novel. She reminds us that epic stories started with the poem, and she does the tradition proud with her formal flexibility and attention to detail. Her poems 'photograph the obscure, ' uncovering a lost treasure in Weldon Kees, who apparently is alive and well, living between these pages."?A. Van Jordan "Weldon Kees is one of the more mysterious figures in American arts. Born in Nebraska in 1914, he followed his polymorphous muse from coast to coast as a musician, librarian, writer, screenwriter, critic, and painter. He is remembered most for his poetry, and for his disappearance. Did he leap to his death from the Golden Gate Bridge in July 1955 or seek a new life in Mexico? In an extraordinary act of identification, poet and essayist Rooney (For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs (Counterpoint, 2010)) improvises on Kees's most haunting poems, a quartet featuring an alter ego named Robinson. Her loosely biographical, knowledgeably imaginative, and gorgeously atmospheric story in verse portrays Robinson as a dapper, talented, and bedeviled man who conceals his sorrows behind insouciance. Rooney weaves lines from Kees's writings into her bluesy, funny, and scorching lyrics as she follows Robinson from elation to desolation as his wife succumbs to alcoholism and his dreams fade. Rooney's syncopated wordplay, supple musicality, and cinematic descriptions subtly embody Kees's artistic pursuits as well as Robinson's sardonic grace under pressure. An intricate, psychologically luminous homage, tale of American loneliness, and enthralling testament to poetry's resonance."?Donna Seaman, Booklist starred review.
Notes: Poems.

"'Meet Robinson, the protagonist of Kathleen Rooney's brilliant novel-in-poems Robinson alone. Conjured up by Weldon Kees and set loose in an urban landscape, Robinson reflects and refracts mid-century American kitsch, optimism, and despair. "What do you / think the post-war world will be like?" he asks, via Rooney's revisions and erasures of Kees' own letters. Lyrical and detailed, precise and ornate, Rooney's genre-bending text showcases an obsession with literary history. At once repulsed by Midwestern provincialism and fearful of urban excess, "There's still as much of yesterday / as there is of tomorrow in all he does today"'--Carol Guess"--Page [4] cover.

"'Kathleen Rooney is one of the best writers of her still youthful generation. Whether working in memoir, essay, fiction, or verse, she writes in a style that is strikingly original and immediately recognizable for the high-spirited energy of its surface and an undertow of emotion that is sometimes elegiac. Even when part of the art in this book is that of the ventriloquist, both of these qualities can be found in Rooney's Robinson poems, a sustained work based on her long engagement with the poetry of Weldon Kees. Kees was for a long time a poet's poet for a generation now itself growing old, so it is a fine thing to have his signature character examined and re-animated by a young poet as good as Rooney is'--John Matthias"--Page [4] cover.

"'Kathleen Rooney's Robinson alone is a blood brother to the historical novel. She reminds us that epic stories started with the poem, and she does the tradition proud with her formal flexibility and attention to detail. Her poems 'photograph the obscure, ' uncovering a lost treasure in Weldon Kees, who apparently is alive and well, living between these pages'--A. Van Jordan"--Page [4] cover.
Table of contents: title: Robinson's hometown; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento I); title: If Robinson came from the heartland; title: Out of step with his generation; title: Robinson's refrigerator; title: Robinson's friends take him to a Western-themed bar; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento II); title: Robinson follows Robert's Rules of Order; title: The waterfront near Vinegar Hill & Fulton Ferry Landing; title: Robinson walks Museum Mile; title: Robinson regards the Snow Babies in Central Park; title: Robinson's parents have come to the city for a visit; title: Robinson stoops on his stoop; title: Robinson escapes to the Cape for Independence Day; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento III); title: At a Thursday night party on a boat in Provincetown; title: Down-Cape, Robinson encounters an over-friendly waiter; title: At Race Point Beach, Robinson smokes tea; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento IV); title: Robinson identifies with the animals; title: Robinson on the roofdeck; title: Robinson & the Word; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento V); title: Robinson can't read; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento VI); title: Robinson has fallen out of love; title: Robinson suffers the winter solstice; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento VII); title: Robinson ice-skates at Rockefeller Center; title: Robinson ends up attending Mass at Xmas; title: After the holiday; title: Robinson & Ann agree; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento VIII); title: Robins might land on a statue of Robinson; title: What does he want? The future! When does he want it? Now!.; title: At a motel in the shadow of a sad river city; title: Robinson tears pages from The Rand McNally Road Atlas; title: Ann insists on reading the Burma-Shave ads aloud (I-IV); title: Rest areas make him restless; title: Robinson's car is nothing like a prairie schooner; title: Ann insists on reading the Burma-Shave ads aloud (V-VII); title: Over a thousand miles from New York City; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento IX); title: Robinson keeps a travel journal in palimpsest; title: Ann insists on reading the Burma-Shave ads aloud (VIII-X); title: Robinson buys a souvenir postcard; title: Ann insists on reading the Burma-Shave ads aloud (XI-XIV); title: Sixteen days in a Lincoln roadster; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento X); title: Setting up housekeeping in San Francisco; title: Inside the bungalow house; title: Their new apartment came with a garden; title: Robinson hates how he sometimes behaves; title: 'Tis the season to submit; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento XI); title: Robinson recalls his first year of marriage; title: Robinson combs Baker Beach near Fort Point; title: In the only self-portrait; title: Robinson prepares himself; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento XII); title: Robinson is taking a break from painting; title: Robinson wrestles with that old despair; title: Robinson's separated, not divorced; title: Robinson sets his house in order; title: Fastidious as he is; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento XIII); title: Robinson's divorce; title: Robinson uses this symbol to signify sex; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento XIV); title: Standing on the landing; title: Robinson chews Blackjack gum; title: Money gives you confidence; title: Robinson sends a letter to someone (Cento XV); title: Robinson understands as he stands at North Point & Fillmore; title: Robinson's friends have come over for his 41st birthday; title: This is how Robinson falls asleep; title: Robinson dines mostly in restaurants lately; title: Robinson's cat; title: Historically, suicides; title: Robinson's telephone rings; title: Afterword.