{"product_id":"the-ventriloquist-poetic-narratives-from-the-womb-of-war-hardcover","title":"The Ventriloquist: Poetic Narratives from the Womb of War - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGary Geddes\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Ventriloquist\u003c\/em\u003e gives us four fearless and seminal works by one of Canada's master poets. A scathing indictment of war and its ravages, it's also a testament to the power of poetic narrative. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGary Geddes is known for his first-person narrative poems and \"seamless impersonations.\" Those figures reaching out from the near or distant past to have their story told include a youth in charge of horses on a doomed and bloody mission to the New World during the Spanish conquest; a so-called \"mad bomber\" who dies in a washroom of the House of Commons when the dynamite he is carrying explodes; a wily and outrageous Chinese sculptor and his legion of warrior subjects struggling against imperial edicts to conform; and POWs in Hong Kong and Japan in World War II doing their damnedest to survive, a struggle that continued back home in the face of shocking neglect. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGeddes finds the phrase that best describes this kind of historical rescue work is \"the ventriloquism of history,\" but jokingly admits that he's never quite sure if he's ventriloquist or dummy. The critics have no doubt about this, however, calling his work \"stunning,\" \"wonderful,\" \"breathtaking in its imaginative reach and verbal dexterity.\" Robert Kroetsch described \u003cem\u003eWar \u0026amp; Other Measures\u003c\/em\u003e as \"the kind of poem poets are only supposed to be able to dream ... the sustained calibration is beautiful. I didn't know the long poem could be so taut.... The years of art and craft are in the book.\" \u003cem\u003eHong Kong Poems\u003c\/em\u003e prompted Michael Estok to say in a review in \u003cem\u003eThe Fiddlehead\u003c\/em\u003e: \"It is a weighty and worthy and admirable undertaking.... [Geddes's] book of elegies puts him on the same level of poetic intensity (perhaps he even surpasses it) of Milton's 'Lycidas' or Tennyson's \u003cem\u003eIn Memoriam\u003c\/em\u003e.\" These words of praise are reflected in the awards the books received on first publication: the E.J. Pratt Medal and Prize, Writers Choice Award, National Magazine Gold Award, and Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Americas Region).\u003cem\u003e The Terracotta Army\u003c\/em\u003e, which won the latter award, was also dramatized and broadcast by CBC and BBC radio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 182\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.56 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e January 04, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53082340294767,"sku":"9781772442410","price":64.6,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0717\/4966\/4879\/files\/V3ZGbmlQNG9nQSszSzBaRVVpWXRmQT09.webp?v=1778601148","url":"https:\/\/finderbooks.com\/products\/the-ventriloquist-poetic-narratives-from-the-womb-of-war-hardcover","provider":"Finder Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}