THE BOUNDARY OF BLUR
The 18 essays in The Boundary of Blur are concerned with the complex interchange between writing, science and psychoanalysis, and chart the activities of a mind at work along, within and beyond the "boundaries" ofthese disciplines. These essays exhibit the patience and goodwill necessary to give the world and its complications the responses they deserve. They do so while involving and implicating the reader in the very construction of their propositions. Piombino writes not as a tour guide ushering befuddled readers through the new poetries, but as an intellectual shaman evoking and applying their liberatory potentials.
"Contemporary poetics, psychoanalysis, scientific constructs and visual art are brought into fluid proximity to bring fresh insights into the ways in which language makes meaning. An important collection."
- Ann Lauterbach, City University of New York
"The Boundary of Blur records a modern instance of an ancient conflict between a commitment to knowledge and a commitment to revelation: Urizen vs. Los, priest vs. prophet-here, analyst vs. poet. 'These two classes of men are always on earth and they should be enemies; whoever seeks to reconcile them seeks to destroy existence.' This is a book Blake would have appreciated."
- Jerome McGann, University of Virginia
"In a series of beautifully crafted, stimulating essays, Piombino reveals how psychoanalysis, science and art meet and catalyze each other in the creative process. He is an artist-scientist who astonishes and delights with his grace and profundity in daring to explore and elucidate the creative process in his poetry with spontaneity, logic, psychoanalytics kill and intuition. He is therapeutic. This is an awesome piece of work, extraordinarily original. It is captivating in language that sings and invites us to join in."
- Alexander Wolf, M.D., Postgraduate Center forMental Health, New York
"In Nick Piombino's essays, the integrated experiences, thoughts, and feelings of a poet, reader of poetry, analysand, and practicing psychoanalyst inform and illuminate each other. In his beautifully lucid writing all facets of Piombino's life, mind, and work mutually yield new insights into "interior" and "exterior" worlds and language--notably poetry--"mediating" between them as it engenders and constitutes our meaning-world."
- Jackson Mac Low
"The first set of these evocative, meditative essays were at the poetic heart of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, where they were originally published. In his aphorisms as much as his articles, Nick Piombino's resonant investigation of the multiple processes of writing makes a fundamental contribution to contemporary poetics. The Boundary of Blur is indispensable testimony to the pleasures of reading, thinking, and creating."
- Charles Bernstein, State University of New York at Buffalo