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“Violet Bent Backwards over the Grass” hardcover Poetry Book Pre-Release Thread

By Elle, in Retired Pre-Release Threads

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slang    1,532

slang
Posted

the issue is, we're talking about music critics when validation re: a poetry book would need to come from literary peers, not the pitchforks of the world - otherwise she could just release a glorified lyric book and call it a day. i mean, sure, she's primarily a musician so of course the music press would have something to say, but literary review mags (the paris review actually published a review of NFR, btw) & influential writers and poets would be the ones to ultimately make or break her book & basically her legitimacy as a poet. i don't think hypothetical comparisons would reference halsey & other contemporary musical peers, but people like joni, dylan, cohen aka other established musician/poets that she associates herself with - and even in the context of her universally acclaimed album, we know how unflattering those comparisons can turn out to be (ann powers comes to mind).

I don't think she considers herself a professional poet, because there are journals and outlets for publishing professional poetry, so why doesn't she just take up a pseudonym, and try to publish some of her poems that way? Maybe she has. I think she just likes to write poetry and is now faced with "what am I going to do with it". I'm glad she's decided to share. So if a hypothetical critic should want to assess her, I think it has to be done in terms of its quality as a fan communication, even if LDR happens to be LDR's biggest fan (which is just to say she writes the poetry she likes to write).
 

 

 

She reads Whitman and has mentioned that Rupi Kaur inspires her. I think she probably looks to Woolf and Plath as inspiration, as well. I haven't read much of her insta poetry so idk

She has poetic inspirations sure, but does she try to sound like these? In the case of Whitman, I think not. I can remember reading some Plath and thinking she was a tough read (unlike LDR).  Woolf or Kaur I don't know. For what it's worth, a poet that I thought might be interesting to compare to LDR to is Delmore Schwartz (literary hero of Lou Reed).

Here's a example:

https://www.americanpoems.com/poets/delmore-schwartz/tired-and-unhappy-you-think-of-houses/

 
Jim Morrison is also interesting as a comparison (because she likes him and he also wrote poems independent of Doors songs):

https://culturacolectiva.com/books/10-poems-by-jim-morrison-you-must-read-to-turn-your-world-upside-down

 
She doesn't have to be as good as either to self-publish, imo.

 

 

there is no “need for a better version of whatever you’re reviewing” to exist for u to think something is bad. there’s a lot of things i dislike and would consider “bad” without them having a good counterpart

Citing somebody who (you think) does it better is an easy way to criticize that imparts useful info to a reader. Of course, you can also cite technical non-comparative reasons for thinking something bad (e.g. poor word choice, inconsistencies in story logic, or odious philosophies expressed), but it's got to be concrete, in the sense of the specific offenses completely described, so a reader can then judge for themselves. Otherwise, imo, it's just not good criticism.
There's a lot of bad criticism that's overly subjective, such as (see especially the last para):

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16223-lana-del-rey/

 

 

I don’t think the delay has anything to do with how the literary community will critique it. Leonard Cohen has tons of poetry books and they've always gotten praise, no matter how simple and silly lots of the poems inside are. Even the poems of Joni Mitchell’s that have been floating around are pretty goofy and juvenile compared to her lyrics. Lana has proved herself as a writer and poet already through her music like both of them had, but strangely her actual poems are mostly more substantial and, well, poetic than lots of theirs were. I’m sure her goal to self-publish the book is all that’s causing a delay. Who knows if she’ll stubbornly keep trying to self-publish it or if she’ll eventually make a deal with a publishing company. Maybe with all the praise NFR is getting, especially for the lyrics, publishers might be lining up to put her book out. Possibly she’s waiting now for the right deal to come to her. Or she could even be waiting til after her album tour so she can tour bookstores to do some intimate readings and signings (even if she’s not interested, her label will want something like that)

 

She doesn't have to promote it really. She just has to care enough about it to release it, preferably in an easy to access (cheap) venue. If she wants critics to be confused about just how to review it, she should have a low-key release. Her comments about selling it for a buck are germane here. If she charges a buck for it, you'd have to be some really hostile asshole of a critic to be destructively critical.

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Rorman Nockwell    56,656

Rorman Nockwell
Posted

Florence Welch released the most beautiful book recently and I wish lana could do something similar, like its so vintage  but im sure lana will be too lazy 

 

I'm not dragging, but Florence's poetry is wayyyyy more polished than Lanz's. I can't imagine her doing a book like that.

7

ur legit gonna look the same stop buying oil of Olay face cream

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Ryusei    5,071

Ryusei
Posted

Good for him!!!!

I love how you have just become the completely anti-critique/anything slightly negative member  :lmao:  and idk if you're serious with every comment or if some of them are ironic. Either way it's kinda refreshing yet funny. 

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