The Enormous Room E E Edward Estlin Cummings 9781406936537 Books
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The Enormous Room E E Edward Estlin Cummings 9781406936537 Books
Cummings served as an ambulance driver during the war. In late August 1917 his friend and colleague, William Slater Brown (known in the book only as B.), was arrested by French authorities as a result of anti-war sentiments B. had expressed in some letters. When questioned, Cummings stood by his friend and was also arrested.While Cummings was in captivity at La Ferté-Macé, his father received an erroneous letter to the effect that his son had been lost at sea. The cable was later rescinded, but the subsequent lack of information on his son's whereabouts left the elder Cummings distraught.
Meanwhile, Cummings and B. had the bad luck to be transported to La Ferté only five days after the local commissioners in charge of reviewing cases for trial and pardon had left – and the commissioners were not expected back until November. When they finally did arrive, they agreed to allow Cummings, as an official "suspect", a supervised release in the remote commune of Oloron-Sainte-Marie. B. was ordered to be transferred to a prison in Précigné.[1] Before Cummings was to depart, he was unconditionally released from La Ferté due to U.S. diplomatic intervention.[2] He arrived in New York City on January 1, 1918.
e. e. cummings spent over four months in prison. He met a number of interesting characters and had many picaresque adventures, which he compiled into The Enormous Room. The book is written as a mix between cummings' well-known unconventional grammar and diction and the witty voice of a young Harvard-educated intellectual in an absurd situation.
The title of the book refers to the large room where cummings slept beside thirty or so other prisoners. However, it also serves as an allegory for cummings' mind and his memories of the prison – such that when he describes the many residents of his shared cell, they still live in the "enormous room" of his mind.
Tags : The Enormous Room [E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <DIV> In 1917 young Edward Estlin Cummings went to France as a volunteer with a Red Cross ambulance unit on the western front. But his free-spirited,E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings,The Enormous Room,Hard Press,1406936537,704B-BKH-8-1-997
The Enormous Room E E Edward Estlin Cummings 9781406936537 Books Reviews
I never read Cummings before this so this book was a big surprise that has made an admirer out of me. Reviewers that gave this a low rating for his "elitist" attitude and for being a "spoiled British" man must have read a different book. First of all he was American as is clearly stated throughout the book and secondly Cummings is about as far from elitist as you can get. He marvels and rejoices in the underdog. He portrays people exactly as their merits allow. I was amazed by his ability to find humor, even joy, in the worst of circumstances.
Parts of the story do bog down a little, but I think it is very interesting throughout. Others have pointed out that there isn't much plot. That is because he is simply telling you what happened to him and the people he met. He can't tell us what happened day by day or really in much of a linear manner at all because he is working from memory alone. And I recommend you keep your smart phone or computer nearby to use google translate if you don't know French, because there is quite a lot of it. If you don't have access to a translator you can usually still glean the meaning out of much of it.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. It is pretty funny, very interesting, and incredibly touching. My heart will forever soften towards him for his sympathetic portrayals of The Wanderer, Jean, Surplice, the Zulu and all his other comrades in la misère.
This book is a fictionalized memoir of e. e. cummings' experiences of World War I. He had volunteered as an ambulance driver, along with a friend of his. As a result of something his friend wrote, he and his friend were arrested and spent a little more than three months in a French detention camp, most of it together.
I have seen this book described as an autobiographical novel, but I don't want to use that term because I think it would be misleading. I'm sure that some to perhaps much of this is based only very loosely on real people and real incidents, but I believe that the story cummings tells in this book is nonetheless true. That is, I believe that it is quite true to his real-life experiences. Even if he embellished characters and events a lot at times, I am quite sure that the overall impression one gets from reading the book presents a true-to-life depiction of that place and time and what he experienced.
Part of what made me enjoy this book so much is the sheer artistry of it. I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek, of course, because cummings was in fact an artist, and the original edition this work included many of his sketches. This edition did not include those, but I saw some of them online, and enjoyed them very much. One day I hope to be able to obtain a print version that does contain the drawings. But the artistry I'm referring to here is the artistry of his writing. He plays such wonderful games with language here, as he would later in his works of poetry. But this book is all the more enjoyable because he wrote it in two languages, French as well as English. I have a more than passing acquaintance with French, but I still had to have my _ Cassell's French Dictionary _ at my side as I read this book. But it was more than worth it. It was indeed a joy.
By coincidence, I read this book just after reading Simone Weil's _ The Need For Roots _, which coincidently has a forward by one of the other great poets of the day, T. S. Eliot. Had I not read what she had to say about the low status of the police in French society, I would not have been able to fully appreciate cummings' many comments about that. I'm guessing that when modern Americans read his comments about gendarmes being so unpopular that seeing two of them escort a prisoner might inspire town folk to think about mounting a rescue, they would suspect that cummings was exaggerating a bit. Having read Weil, I was prepared to take him at face value.
I probably read this book differently from most people because I too have spent time in prison. I knew exactly what he meant when he wrote
A hideous crash nipped the last word. I had supposed the whole prison to
have been utterly destroyed by earthquake, but it was only my door closing.
I certainly didn't spend time in a prison like his, but I believe his story.
I have been a fan of e. e. cummings' poetry since high school, but I had never heard of this, his first book, until just recently; I came across a reference to it, I think, on a religious blog. I couldn't wait to read it, and I was not disappointed when I did. This is definitely a great work, and I can't believe I never came across it before now. I think this book is one of the indispensable books about World War I, right up there with _ The Guns of August _ and _ All Quiet on the Western Front _. I would give this book six stars if I could.
Cummings served as an ambulance driver during the war. In late August 1917 his friend and colleague, William Slater Brown (known in the book only as B.), was arrested by French authorities as a result of anti-war sentiments B. had expressed in some letters. When questioned, Cummings stood by his friend and was also arrested.
While Cummings was in captivity at La Ferté-Macé, his father received an erroneous letter to the effect that his son had been lost at sea. The cable was later rescinded, but the subsequent lack of information on his son's whereabouts left the elder Cummings distraught.
Meanwhile, Cummings and B. had the bad luck to be transported to La Ferté only five days after the local commissioners in charge of reviewing cases for trial and pardon had left – and the commissioners were not expected back until November. When they finally did arrive, they agreed to allow Cummings, as an official "suspect", a supervised release in the remote commune of Oloron-Sainte-Marie. B. was ordered to be transferred to a prison in Précigné.[1] Before Cummings was to depart, he was unconditionally released from La Ferté due to U.S. diplomatic intervention.[2] He arrived in New York City on January 1, 1918.
e. e. cummings spent over four months in prison. He met a number of interesting characters and had many picaresque adventures, which he compiled into The Enormous Room. The book is written as a mix between cummings' well-known unconventional grammar and diction and the witty voice of a young Harvard-educated intellectual in an absurd situation.
The title of the book refers to the large room where cummings slept beside thirty or so other prisoners. However, it also serves as an allegory for cummings' mind and his memories of the prison – such that when he describes the many residents of his shared cell, they still live in the "enormous room" of his mind.
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