HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

Tiepolo's Hound

by Derek Walcott

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1222221,898 (3.7)12
From the Nobel laureate, a book-length poem on two educations in painting, a century apart "Between me and Venice the thigh of a hound; my awe of the ordinary, because even as I write, paused on a step of this couplet, I have never found its image again, a hound in astounding light." Tiepolo's Hound joins the quests of two Caribbean men: Camille Pissarro--a Sephardic Jew born in 1830 who leaves his native St. Thomas to follow his vocation as a painter in Paris--and the poet himself, who longs to rediscover a detail--"a slash of pink on the inner thigh / of a white hound"--of a Venetian painting encountered on an early visit from St. Lucia to New York. Both journeys take us through a Europe of the mind's eye, in search of a connection between the lost, actual landscape of a childhood and the mythical landscape of empire. Published with twenty-five full-color reproductions of Derek Walcott's own paintings, the poem is at once the spiritual biography of a great artist in self-imposed exile, a history in verse of Impressionist painting, and a memoir of the poet's desire to catch the visual world in more than words.… (more)
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 12 mentions

Showing 2 of 2
Poet and painter Derek Walcott uses one form of artistic expression to contemplate the other in a book-length poem. Walcott compares and contrasts himself as an artist with 19th-century impressionist Camille Pissarro, who, like Walcott, was born in the West Indies. Themes that run through the poem include nature, time, inspiration, Old vs. New world, and the legacies of slavery and colonialism. Reading poetry is harder work than reading prose, and I found that reading aloud to my dog helped maintain my concentration and enhanced my appreciation of the work. ( )
  cbl_tn | Oct 30, 2013 |
At first glance Tiepolo's Hound is pretty deceiving. It looks like a simple poem with gorgeous pictures. Upon closer inspection Tiepolo's Hound becomes more complicated. One narrative becomes two. Aside from Camille Pissaro's desire to leave St. Thomas to follow his artistic dreams, the author describes his own journey to rediscover the details of a venetian painting. The dual narration tangles the storyline and leads to an anti-climatic ending to an otherwise fascinating journey. The vivid imagery of the sights, sounds and smells of St. Thomas make the poem beautiful. The colorful descriptions of the surrounding landscapes are what successfully capture the reader's attention and hold it until the end. ( )
  SeriousGrace | Dec 7, 2009 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Information from the Dutch Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

From the Nobel laureate, a book-length poem on two educations in painting, a century apart "Between me and Venice the thigh of a hound; my awe of the ordinary, because even as I write, paused on a step of this couplet, I have never found its image again, a hound in astounding light." Tiepolo's Hound joins the quests of two Caribbean men: Camille Pissarro--a Sephardic Jew born in 1830 who leaves his native St. Thomas to follow his vocation as a painter in Paris--and the poet himself, who longs to rediscover a detail--"a slash of pink on the inner thigh / of a white hound"--of a Venetian painting encountered on an early visit from St. Lucia to New York. Both journeys take us through a Europe of the mind's eye, in search of a connection between the lost, actual landscape of a childhood and the mythical landscape of empire. Published with twenty-five full-color reproductions of Derek Walcott's own paintings, the poem is at once the spiritual biography of a great artist in self-imposed exile, a history in verse of Impressionist painting, and a memoir of the poet's desire to catch the visual world in more than words.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.7)
0.5
1
1.5 1
2 1
2.5
3
3.5 3
4 2
4.5
5 3

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 202,659,865 books! | Top bar: Always visible