Albert Goldbarth A Sympathy of Souls

Annotation

In his first collection of essays, Goldbarth--much like Charles Olson or Guy Davenport--seeks to fuse imaginative truths out of interconnected layers of knowledge. The interests of these eight fluid essays, written over ten years, are extensions of his 12 books of poetry: autobiography, literary history, scientific erudition, and popular culture. He interweaves episodes in the lives of family and friends; Hasidic legends; natural history (Piltdown man, exploration of the Lascaux caves); fictionalized biographies of chemist Marie Curie and dancer Loie Fuller and others; and popular culture (Mickey Mouse, a toy show in Topeka, Kansas). Goldbarth's success in synthesizing these themes varies. At times, symbolic linkages remain arbitrary; at other times, he discovers that "the Earth would whisper . . . its deepest secrets, confidingly into my body."-- Frank Allen, Regents Coll., Albany, N.Y.