Bluets

Maggie Nelson

A meditation on blue, sorta, but also a inquiry into love, life and theory. This is clearly a precursor to the Argonauts. There’s a similar style and tone, moving from the conversational to the theoretical and back. It isn’t as polished as the Argonauts, nor as emotionally compelling, but still an interesting, thought provoking read.

As I’ve written elsewhere, I’m much more drawn to Nelson’s prose than her poetry. This one sits somewhere in the middle – written in prose, but with the kind of hyper careful word choice and syntax that we see in her poetry. An interesting book, clearly an experiment of sorts, which lead to much stronger work later on.

Recommended for the enthusiast.