Thursday, October 19, 2017

Floating on a Sea of Letters

We've criticized (with one notable exception) anthologies that organize on the default principle of alphabetization. A review of Anne Carson's recent collection offers another view:

Float' s contents page is alphabetized, a shot across the bows of those expecting Carson to dictate its chronology; "reading can be freefall", she announces in a prefatory note. And why should collections behave like maps? Why shouldn't they — as Carson suggests — be read on shuffle?

And while we're shuffling, why not read the end of a book first, I wonder (NOT)?

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