Ellen Hinsey

At a time darkened by war, Ellen Hinsey's The Invisible Fugue returns to questions of our endurance and what it means to be human. Like Czeslaw Milosz's Treatise on Poetry, The Invisible Fugue lyrically reflects on the natural world around us, the possible celebration in the encounter with the other, our confrontation with time and the mysteries ever-present in the universe."Ellen Hinsey's mind bears witness to an unprecedented ability to never abandon poetry, even when approaching the extreme limits of the darkness of our time. In this Invisible Fugue, following step by step the movement of Beethoven's 'Gro e Fuge' Op.133, her poetry ventures into a new, ecstatic dimension, where, 'released from the black chaos of the unmanifest, ' the earth appears as if in the splendor of the first day, beyond all possible destruction." -Giorgio Agamben "There's an omniscient beauty and wisdom in the intrepid music Ellen Hinsey distills from natural wonder, from spiritual anguish and bewilderment. With roots in Beethoven's most radical, futuristic composition, the Gro- e Fuge, Hinsey's The Invisible Fugue...compels as both existential quest and far-reaching cosmic aria. After her previous volume, The Illegal Age, which confronted the chilling unraveling of democracy in our imperiled era, these new 'mystical lyrics' (a decade in the making) arrive as a gust of splendid lyricism...The timeless poise and elegance of Hinsey's profound and sibylline project, enhanced by her masterly command of cadence and lineation-artfully crafted in the face of carnage, fear, spiritual outcry, and earthly chaos-is unmatched by any other English language poet writing today." -Cyrus Cassells, author of The World That the Shooter Left Us"If a Fugue is something you hear, what is The Invisible Fugue of Ellen Hinsey's? It is a sourceless source, and this mystery-an 'unlikely coming into being'-is what animates the lyrics of this collection. I've read Hinsey's work for years, and every time the language and form feel constitutional, something upon which to be made, or unmade. The Invisible Fugue is no different: Hinsey looks for 'the fixed point of the unexpected' and manages to hold a tone both urgent and unhurried; fugitive and full of feeling; filled with knowing and filled beyond knowing." -P draig Tuama, host of Poetry Unbound"Ellen Hinsey's poetry balances between a deep engagement with the socio-political world and a rich inner realm. This collection stands out for its distinct mysticism-yet remains non-religious-characterized by its restrained poetic diction, minimalism, and musical elegance. It's a stylized, empathetic lyricism of artful gesture...A masterful fugue of the via negativa."-Jaroslaw Pluciennik, author of The Courage of Poetics

Ellen Hinsey's new book-length sequence, The Illegal Age, is a powerful investigation into the twentieth-century's dark legacy of totalitarianism and the rise of political illegality. It explores the enduring potential for human beings to set neighbour against neighbour and commit final acts of violence. A book of lyrical reflection and prophesy, The Illegal Age chronicles the arrival of a new, disquieting reality unfolding in our midst. As Marilyn Hacker has written, "In dialogue with Celan, Szymborska, Milosz... this is a daring text - for its political acuity, and for its demonstration of the power in poetry to recount, remember, move the heart while opening the mind." Written in parallel with her first-hand research into the rise of authoritarianism carried out over the last decade, Hinsey's volume warns that - rather than an "Age of Anxiety" - we may indeed be facing the start of the "Illegal Age".

Ellen Hinsey's new book-length sequence, The Illegal Age, is a powerful investigation into the twentieth-century's dark legacy of totalitarianism and the rise of political illegality. It explores the enduring potential for human beings to set neighbour against neighbour and commit final acts of violence. A book of lyrical reflection and prophesy, The Illegal Age chronicles the arrival of a new, disquieting reality unfolding in our midst. As Marilyn Hacker has written, "In dialogue with Celan, Szymborska, Milosz... this is a daring text - for its political acuity, and for its demonstration of the power in poetry to recount, remember, move the heart while opening the mind." Written in parallel with her first-hand research into the rise of authoritarianism carried out over the last decade, Hinsey's volume warns that - rather than an "Age of Anxiety" - we may indeed be facing the start of the "Illegal Age".

Interweaves Eastern European postwar history, dissidence, and literature to expand our understanding of the significance of this important Lithuanian writer. Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova is a book in the European tradition of works such as Conversations with Czeslaw Milosz and Aleksander Wat's classic My Century. Taking the form of an extendedinterview with Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova, the book interweaves Eastern European postwar history, dissidence, and literature. Venclova, who personally knew Akhmatova, Pasternak, Milosz, Brodsky, and many others, was also one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, one of the first human rights organizations in Eastern Europe. Magnetic North provides an in-depth account of ethical choices and artistic resistance to totalitarianism over a half century. It also details Venclova's artistic work, expanding our understanding of the significance of this writer, whose books are central to contemporary European culture. The publication of this book was supported by the Lithuanian Culture Institute. Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian poet, writer, scholar, and translator. He is Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Ellen Hinsey is the author of numerous works of poetry, essay, and literary translation. Her most recent book is Mastering the Past: Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe and the Rise of Illiberalism.

Interweaves Eastern European postwar history, dissidence, and literature to expand our understanding of the significance of this important Lithuanian writer. Magnetic North: Conversations with Tomas Venclova is a book in the European tradition of works such as Conversations with Czeslaw Milosz and Aleksander Wat's classic My Century. Taking the form of an extendedinterview with Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova, the book interweaves Eastern European postwar history, dissidence, and literature. Venclova, who personally knew Akhmatova, Pasternak, Milosz, Brodsky, and many others, was also one of the five founding members of the Lithuanian Helsinki Group, one of the first human rights organizations in Eastern Europe. Magnetic North provides an in-depth account of ethical choices and artistic resistance to totalitarianism over a half century. It also details Venclova's artistic work, expanding our understanding of the significance of this writer, whose books are central to contemporary European culture. The publication of this book was supported by the Lithuanian Culture Institute. Tomas Venclova is a Lithuanian poet, writer, scholar, and translator. He is Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale University. Ellen Hinsey is the author of numerous works of poetry, essay, and literary translation. Her most recent book is Mastering the Past: Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe and the Rise of Illiberalism.

In Update on the Descent, Ellen Hinsey draws on personal experience and family tragedy to forge a masterful meditation on the extremes of the human condition. A poet who situates herself in a landscape steeped in the tragic history and artistic splendor of Europe, Hinsey suffuses her work with the urgency of historical memory. Alternating lyrics, aphorism, anti-lyrics, and philosophical notebooks, she explores the nature of terror, war, tyranny, and violence as well as reconciliation and renewal of the human spirit. Called by Carolyn Forche, "A true poet, whose sense of line, cadence, and tonality is unsurpassed among poets of her generation," Hinsey brilliantly contributes to the tradition of poetry as a witness to history. "Ellen Hinsey has manifested a range of concern and a sensitivity to larger human issues which is the sine qua non of authentic poetry. She has found a way to be both truthful and original, to make poems which are absorbing and enlightening, historically pertinent and philosophically urgent. . . . To our great good fortune they succeed in their unlikely ambitions." --C. K. Williams "With this book, Ellen Hinsey confirms her status as one of the most profound and intense poets of her generation. Update on the Descent is arranged in an extremely sophisticated pattern, alternating Dantean visions, contemporary accounts of torture, and thoughts on our human condition which crystallize into formulae possessing all the depth and darkness of Heraclitus. It has the touch of strangeness indispensable for any great poetry, but its moral message is straightforward and full of inner force." --Tomas Venclova, author of Winter Dialogue and The Junction: Selected Poems "In this meditation on the vita activa, Hinsey journeys poetically and philosophically through the ruins of what it means to be human in the twenty-first century. Human nature is this lyric art's first-person, and its utterance is protean. Throughout we hear the cris de coeur of our time, from a scaffold of collective memory artfully constructed by one of our most compelling poets. Hinsey's sense of line, cadence, and tonality is remarkable, and she deserves a serious and attentive readership in this country." --Carolyn Forche

Ellen Hinsey's third collection, "Update on the Descent" is a powerful meditation on violence, war and human division. Drawing on personal and family experiences - including the murder of her grandmother - as well as research at the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague, "Update on the Descent" is the companion volume to "The White Fire of Time", a sequence of poetic works that explore the nature of terror as well as the sacred. Dynamically and innovatively written in lyrical and anti-lyrical forms, including prose and aphorism, "Update on the Descent" is a masterwork, an exploration of the extremes of the human condition, tackling issues of civil strife and tyranny, reconciliation and the renewal of the spirit.

In this exquisite book-length sequence, Ellen Hinsey explores the boundary between poetry and metaphysics, and the intimate bonds between morality and mortality. A modern examination of the contemplative life, The White Fire of Time draws on a breadth of cultural knowledge and a deep understanding of the wisdom of the body. The poems in this singular collection are visionary meditations which investigate, as Hinsey writes, ‘that wild chaos where life’s power endures’. The work is in three sections: The World, meditations on the ordinary, the daily life of the body and its place in nature and time; The Temple, investigations into language and the ethical life; and The Celestial Ladder, in which poems trace the soul’s spiralling journey through desire, love, grief and endurance. Each section mirrors the structure of the whole, with poems following specific forms, serving to create a symphonic rhythm in which details, metaphors and meanings build and interweave.

In this exquisitely coherent new collection of poems, Ellen Hinsey explores the boundary between poetry and metaphysics, and the intimate bonds between morality and mortality. Drawing on philosophical and spiritual readings, The White Fire of Time displays a breadth of cultural knowledge and a deep understanding of the wisdom of the body. The poems in this book-length sequence are gorgeous, brooding, musical, elegant and serious. The work is composed in three sections: The World, meditations on the ordinary, the daily life of the body and its place in nature and time; The Temple, investigations into language and the ethical life; and The Celestial Ladder, in which poems trace the soul's spiraling journey through desire, love, grief and endurance. Each section mirrors the structure of the whole, with poems following specific forms, serving to create a symphonic rhythm in which details, metaphors and meanings build and interweave.