Screeno: Stories & Poems

by Cynthia Ozick and Delmore Schwartz

Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966) was one of the finest writers of his generation. Winner of the prestigious Bollingen prize and the Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Award, he was hailed by John Ashbery as one of the major twentieth-century poets. Schwartz's stories were also widely read and loved, admired by James Atlas for their unique style that enabled Schwartz to depict his characters with a sort of childlike verisimilitude. Graced with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811215733
• ISBN13: 9780811215732
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.8" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Heavy bears and dreams

Sometimes with the legend, we forget how great the work is. This brings together many of Schwartz's brightest works. The introduction by Cynthia Ozick, reminds that Delmore worked under Alfred North Whitehead, and Whitehead's "Witness of the body" shows up in Schwartz's poem "The Heavy Bear Who Goes With Me". This heavy bear, also shows up as Hugo Bauer in the recently discovered, short story "The Heights of Joy": "He had moreover, a burley and bear-like dignity." Schwartz's dreams may have been tortured, but here presented in prose "In dreams begin Responsibility" or in poetry "In the Naked Bed, In Plato's Cave", or "Father and Son": "When you wake up from sleep, still drunk with sleep, you are afraid of time and its slow drip". The fully appreciate the final poem "Seurat's Sunday Afternoon Along the Seine" should be read with a copy of the painting in hand. Perhaps some of these are repackaged from other collections, but provides an introduction for new readers, and a good reflection for the experienced.