A Spectacular Influence

Poetry. Philosophy. Translated from the French by Nathana l. Drawing from philosophy (including Pre-Socratic materialists, Nietzsche, and Spinoza), A SPECTACULAR INFLUENCE by Chantal Neveu offers readers an exercise in extreme perception. With clear lines and minimalist language, A SPECTACULAR INFLUENCE solicits movement in melancholy as a way of celebrating the intimate role that each of us plays in the human collective experience. This is Neveu's "materialist poetry manifesto" in all its paradoxical joy through tragedy. It holds a linguistic magnifying glass up to core subjects at the foundation of our very humanness, dwelling in the Spinozan questions, Is consciousness an illusion? How do metamorphoses arise within the collective? In this graceful, rich translation by acclaimed author and translator Nathana l, Neveu's poetic perspective invites us to consider that, in our inevitable connection with the world, "I am a human, and nothing human is foreign to me" (after Terence).