There’s a line in Lyn Hejinian’s poetics essay ‘The Rejection of Closure’ – form is not a fixture but an activity – and I love the idea of form being something that writers do, with purpose and intent. Maybe that comes from my background in poetry, but I seek out books that foreground that approach – texts where authors collide forms, pulling the strengths of various mediums together to generate something richer than what might have been possible for them in a single genre alone. Form can turn vastness into plenitude, Hejinian says, and books that are playful in this way can change the pacing on a dime, subvert a reader’s expectations or draw in other voices. The reading experience opens out. It feels luxurious, abundant.
When I write, I think about how the arrangement of words on the page might assist in conveying a particular sensation or feeling. These seven books have shown me new ways of shaping language to great effect. Some on this list are old favourites, inspirational touchstones, while others are newer discoveries – recent releases I’m still thinking about.
Continue reading “Seven Books That Play With Form Recommended by Louise Wallace”
