A VILLAGE LIFE

New York City, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 72 pages. Rare Louise Gluck collectible set. A near-fine copy of "A Village Life" First Hardcover Edition/First Printing with a pristine copy of "The Poet's View: Masters In The Art of Poetry Reading Their Work, Discussing Their Craft, And Recounting Their Lives" DVD. The author's eleventh collection of poems. One of Louise Gluck's finest achievements. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Louise Gluck's "A Village Life". Vividly describes and quietly celebrates near-idyllic, rustic life in concrete yet universal terms. "Expansive, fluent, and full. While Gluck's manner is novelistic, she focuses not on action, but on pauses and intervals, moments of suspension (rather than suspense), in a dream-like present tense in which poetic speculation and reflection are possible" (Publisher's blurb). Her greatest achievement is precisely that she has found a permanent way out of the confessional mode - otherwise so irresistible - that most, not just some, contemporary American poets continue to wallow in, especially the "identity-politics"/"woke" kind (feminist, "patriotic"/uber-masculine, LGBTQ, etcetera). The point is not to reject identity, but to transcend it, in all of its narcissistic forms, as all great art does. An absolute "must-have" title for Louise Gluck collectors. This title is a great collection. It comes with a pristine copy of "The Poet's View" DVD, the only such documentary appearance of Louise Gluck and fellow poets John Ashbery, W. S. Merwin, and Anthony Hecht, "Reading Their Work, Discussing Their Craft, And Recounting Their Lives". As far as we know, this is the only set consisting of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing and DVD available online and despite the book's imperfection (crimp on front lower board, but it's there) is still in fine condition overall: Clean, crisp, and bright. The DVD itself is in brand-new condition. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws or are subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare set thus. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1985 for "The Triumph of Achilles". Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for "The Wild Iris". America's Poet Laureate in 2003 and 2004. Winner of the Nobel Prize For Literature in 2020. One of the greatest poets of our time. A fine set. (SEE ALSO OTHER LOUISE GLUCK TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0374283745.