The Book of Resemblances, Vol. 2: Intimations, the Desert FROM THE PUBLISHER
'It is impossible to think about writing, the book, the relation of man and language without taking Edmond Jabe into account... He does not build a system of questioning, he tirelessly pursues and lives the question.' --Claude Bonnefoy, 'Les Nouvelles Litteraires'
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Reading the second book in a Jabesian trilogy of prose poems, The Book of Resemblances, requires a suspension of expectations. Although narrative, Jabes's brief fragments questioning the human condition lack even the suggestion of plot. In the Jabesian universe, God is the name of the abyss, and ``the book'' as a philosophical construct is impossible. Thus, Jabes, a hermetic writer like the French poet Stephane Mallarme, demands interpretation as the reader's duty. Like the life cycle itself, ``the book'' engenders other books; the writer must write, though all endeavor ends in death, in nothingness, in the ``desert'' of this volume's last section. Waldrop's translation is very readable, capturing the essence of Jabes's pessimism. Academic libraries and larger public libraries with other Jabes books should own this one. But Jabes must be read extensively to be appreciated, and he will not appeal to the average reader.-- Bob Ivey, Memphis State Univ., Tenn.
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