Apology for Absence by Julia Darling

Apology for Absence by Julia Darling

Julia Darling's second collection, produced a few months before her death from cancer. Her first book (Sudden Collapses in Public Places) grew from her experiences of being treated for advanced breast cancer; she was able to employ poetic images which helped her see things in a fresh way, pictures and metaphors that could almost be used as 'visualisations'. "Without poems, my journey through chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the general ups and downs of illness, would have been unthinkable... In my case, I chose to imagine my body as a house, and wrote many poems during my treatment about 'living in the new extension' or about my fears. Sudden Collapses helped me to step out of the difficult present and to use my imagination to be somewhere else." Her second collection looks at the world beyond the hospital, although still from the view-point of a cancer patient in the advanced stages of the illness. The themes are familiar, but here she writes with a wider perspective, a deeper understanding, which reach out to the heart of the human condition and the greater mysteries of life, albeit in an understated way. This is a powerful and deeply affecting book, completely unsentimental yet charged with emotion – indeed, one of those rare books that have a profound and lasting effect.

"Julia Darling is writing at the height of her powers in this new book of poetry" Jo Shapcott; "She is one of those rare contemporary poets who make you feel what it is to be alive and marvel at it." Maggie Gee"

Julia Darling, novelist, playwright and poet, has lived and worked in the North East since 1980. She has written two novels, Crocodile Soup and The Taxi Driver's Daughter (both of which were nominated for major literary prizes), many of her short stories have been broadcast on Radio 4 and her plays have been staged throughout the North-east and broadcast on the radio. In March 2003, she became the second winner of the acclaimed Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award, the largest annual literary award in England.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781904614128
ISBN 10	1904614124
Title	Apology for Absence
Author	Julia Darling
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Arc Publications
Year published	2005-02-24
Number of pages	60
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable