#ben mazer

It is at times like these, when the sun of a once-great literary reputation has set, that we should be grateful for an opportunity to re-assess the work, to see it again, as if for the first time.

The pie is opened; out the creatures rush And flutter pitiful in the cold light; They sing a little, but had better hush; For all the gods have vanished in the cold, And Troy is fallen, and the world is old; A bitter tale, and better far untold.

from The Feasting of Maionides and Stephen Daedalus

“Ransom’s portraits of Miriam Tazewell, Miss Euphemia, Emily Hardcastle, Conrad, Minnie, and others unnamed have their heavy-handed ironies, and even their cruelties; but they come from looking hard at other people and refusing to look away.”

Partisan's Year in Books: A.E. STALLINGS Selects The Collected Poems of John Crowe Ransom 

When Partisan asked some of our favourite writers and contributors to tell us about the books that mattered to them in 2015, we were inundated with stocking stuffers and door-stoppers, small press gems and bestsellers, the timely and the timeless, and even a book that isn’t yet published. So we’ve dedicated our whole week to their recommendations. Read the first and second installments. Today: the final entry in Partisan's Year in Books.

A.E. STALLINGS There were a number of big events this year in poetry publishing, but I would like to give a shout out to the major minor poet John Crowe Ransom, in the gorgeous and meticulous edition by Ben Mazer, The Collected Poems of John Crowe Ransom.  

Read the full piece here:

“Ben Mazer has done us a great service in producing this mighty and handsome Collected Poems, which enables us to see the whole picture...”

Most sympathetic, John Greening for the TLS, Literature & Poetry  04 November 2015

Ben Mazer, editor The Collected Poems of John Crowe Ransom