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windwhispers7's review
5.0
Finely wrought, fascinating, and worthy of far more attention than Mirrlees has hitherto received.
rainhasaproblem's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful poetry. The much-heralded Paris was brilliant, as were the comprehensive notes to it, but much of Mirrlees' skill lies in the restraint of her later poems- you can see the influence of modernism with use of odd meter and caesurae, yet there is a maturity to these poems which I didn't see in Paris. They're both brilliant in different ways, and create a beautiful portrait of a writer and her poetic ouevre.
However, some of the selected essays weren't as great as what preceded them- the classical influence of Jane Harrison (and Mirrlees' own classical studies at Newnham) is apparent, but the essays could be more concise, lose some of the classical references, and generally be more readable.
One of the high points of this book was the brilliant introduction- Parmar weaves an intimate portrait of Mirrlees' life, writing and acquaintances in a beautifully written 50 pages.
3.5/5 rounded up to be nice. Would have been a 5 if it wasn't for some of the essays- her skill lay in poetry, in my opinion!
However, some of the selected essays weren't as great as what preceded them- the classical influence of Jane Harrison (and Mirrlees' own classical studies at Newnham) is apparent, but the essays could be more concise, lose some of the classical references, and generally be more readable.
One of the high points of this book was the brilliant introduction- Parmar weaves an intimate portrait of Mirrlees' life, writing and acquaintances in a beautifully written 50 pages.
3.5/5 rounded up to be nice. Would have been a 5 if it wasn't for some of the essays- her skill lay in poetry, in my opinion!
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