This is a book of poetic elegies that discuss failures: failures of love, both sexual and spiritual; failures of the body; failures of science, art and technology; failures of nature, imagination and memory; and, most importantly, failures inherent to elegiac narratives and our formal attempt to memoralize the lost. But the book also explores the necessity of such narratives, as well as the creative possibilities implicit within the "failed elegy," all while examining the various ways that self-destruction can turn into self-preservation.
About the AuthorPaisley Rekdal is assistant professor of English at the University of Utah. She is the author of a book of essays and two books of poetry. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, and her poems and essays have appeared in many publications.
