The Caiplie Caves

(Paperback)

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'Introducing Karen Solie, I would adapt what Joseph Brodsky said some thirty years ago of the great Les Murray [. . .] - she is the one by whom the language lives'. - Michael Hofmann, LRB The Canadian Karen Solie is rapidly establishing a reputation as one of the most important poets at work today. Her fifth book of poetry, The Caiplie Caves, is a profound and timely consideration of the nature of crisis: at its heart is the figure of St Ethernan, a seventh-century Irish missionary to Scotland who retreated to the caves of the Fife coast in order to decide whether to establish a priory on May Island or pursue a life of solitude. His decision would have been informed by realities of war, misinformation and power; Solie imagines this crisis also complicated by grief, confusion - and a faith placed under extreme duress. Woven through Ethernan's story are poems that orbit the caves' geographical location, and range through the recurring violences of history and myth, of personal and public record. In poems of the utmost lyric subtlety and argumentative strength, Solie addresses how we might distinguish self-delusion from belief, belief from knowledge - and how, in the frailty of our responses, we can find the courage to move forward.

Reviews

A poet of the modern, cross-country journey * Guardian *
One by whom the language lives -- Michael Hofmann * London Review of Books *
Powerful, philosophical, intelligent . . . [Solie is] especially adept at pulling great wisdom from the ordinary . . . an ability to see at once into and through our daily struggle, often thwarted by our very selves, toward something like an honourable life. -- Anne Carson, Kathleen Jamie, and Carl Phillips, Griffin Poetry Prize Judges Citation

Author Bio

Karen Solie was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She is the author of three collections of poems including Pigeon, which won the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Pat Lowther Award, and the Trillium Book Award for Poetry. She was International Writer-in-Residence at the University of St Andrews in 2011, and is an Associate Director for the Banff Centre's Writing Studio program. Her poems have been published in the US, the UK, and Europe, and have been translated into French, German, Korean, and Dutch. Her first UK collection, The Living Option: Selected Poems, was published in 2013. She lives in Toronto.