Book cover for The Fire of Joy

The Fire of Joy

Synopsis

Details

15 September 2022
336 pages
9781529042108
Imprint: Picador

Reviews

A treasure trove of poetic pleasure
The Fire of Joy is a proper pleasure. Fun and fight-picking, wise and persuasive. James loves a layman and, by the end, the layman certainly loves James . . . “It’s a dipper,” said my husband, reading over my shoulder. If I wasn’t on review duty, that’s the way I’d read it: dipping in at random, at bedtime, a poem a night.
The Fire of Joy is a set of personal, quintessentially Jamesian commentaries on 80 of his favourite poems.
A must for anthology lovers . . . The late, great critic and poet doesn't so much look forward as back; these are old favourites (Byron, Wordsworth, Masefield, Owen) from a lifetime’s reading, with personal notes on each one. I found it moving as well as a joy.