Book Reviews
Arpine Konyalian Grenier
Part, Part Euphrates
reviewed by Celia Lisset Alvarez
38pp. NeO Pepper Press. US$10. 0978840755 paper
A New Syntax
Arpine Konyalian Grenier's Part, Part Euphrates collapses both landscape
and time in a collection of poetry that challenges the reader to
reconstruct both narrative and place from language that defies logic and
tradition. Grenier creates her own evocative grammar of soul, self, and
society in these five interrelated poems that together make up a mosaic
narrative perhaps best referred to as political ecofeminism, but that
really escape easy categorizations. Although heavily imbued with
bittersweet glimpses of a deconstructed Lebanon traceable to Grenier's
Armenian identity, Part, Part Euphrates is intensely personal and
passionate rather than simply driven by sociopolitical concerns.
The brief collection opens with `Lebanon regardless) would you
rather . . . ,' a wistful look at the mysterious relationship with `G'
that anchors the personal narrative thread of the book. The speaker is
perturbed by the fractured realtionship to G and the presence of a woman
from his past:
he was her borrowed once a bruise on top each limb
her totem pole detailing a flower near original
shadow re-examined for rainmaking
Combining free verse with prose poetry, Grenier crafts a broken
narrative of loss and doubt in this poem, interspersing personal
questions (`Why do I feel her spirit interfering with my realtionship
with G') and fractured memories with a decidedly urban and postmodern
sensibility best captured into the lines `the world is / my lover is.'
The speaker asserts that `nothing is new in Lebanon since you and I
cracked,' and this collapse of self and city sets the stage for the rest
of the collection.
Subsequent poems play off of this classic feminist tension between the
personal and the political. `The Enthusiast' bemoans the relationship
between Beirut's past and present in language that attempts to
illuminate a neglected women's history: `So the deal is - poor ugly
motherless Beirut suffering anonymity.' Grenier examines how `the theme
of man' has excluded its female counterpart (`I'm not a daughter they
say / I did not see it happen mama') in a gesture she compares to
`backing against a one way street' and provocatively calls `syntax
blackened.' She ends this poem both hopefully and forcefully, implying
that women's struggle for voice, and, obliquely, for economic freedom
(`today is the first day you're a pay-stub mother / beaming at a new
syntax'), will bring about a new vision for Beirut:
these are not ours these streets we fight in
banal for some reason and emptied star
the watch in reverse
a new syntax
prepared
-ness
out there
street signals
turnpike
lane
Though difficult to unravel, the images in `The Enthusiast' suggest the
overall raison d'etre of Grenier's poetry in this collection, the
creation of a `new syntax' driven by a woman-centered multiplicity of
voice that takes Audre Lorde's imperative to dismantle the master's
house to a multicultural level.
Very much the anchor poem of the group, `The Enthusiast' also introduces
the concept of male versus female theming or viewing that unites all
five poems. `Gatekeeper, we unthemed' brings together the languages of
science, gender, and politics to question the ways in which we relate to
one another:
there is no consensus or dissent they say
within the urge to connect
un-themed
is the neutral such?
how do where and how enter theme?
how does how many enter zero?
I had a dad and father and daddy
is that too synoptic for you?
Unlike in `The Enthusiast,' in `Gatekeeper' there is no sense of a
gendered optimism. This poem is nightmarish and urgent. Grenier speaks
of being `afraid of water and air and everything green or living'
because `what is free or living must be commoditized and digitized.'
There is a strong sense of disaster in this poem, where being `unthemed'
also means being `unaccounted for.' The individual is powerless vis Ă
vis a machinery of destruction that threatens both the natural world and
its `private corners.' Although sure to find resonance with many
readers, the poem lacks the unity of vision of `The Enthusiast,' leaving
one with more questions than answers.
Ultimately, however, Grenier presents a beautifully braided collection
of poems that culminate in the final `Public at The Pergola,' in which
all the themes of Part, Part Euphrates come together in a moving,
postmodern collage of poetry and prose. Finally `unthemed,' the speaker
of `Pergola' asks
what to do with the scissors you gave me (Ottoman)
what to do with the embroidered cross on one side
the linguist and research analyst positions at United Technologies
on the other the Biblical whole limbic
The speaker's indecision and desperation is tenderly confessed in a
letter to G and a job application that recalls the `enthusiasm / work
ethic' of `The Enthusiast.' Grenier offers no easy resolutions. Like the
river, the collection is `recurring . . . / breeding its underside.'
What is remarkable about it is Grenier's ability to engage with language
on its most primal, semiotic level. Words, images, and space collide and
explode into each other, and meaning is accumulated rather than created.
Such stylistic freshness sets this collection apart from other
treatments of these (post)modern themes of individualism, gender, and
ecology. Moreover, Grenier's ability to navigate the uncharted with
grace and beauty also sets her writing apart from poetry that is
unconventional merely to shock or transgress. She creates her own syntax
and her own myth. She writes in the epigraph: `With an eternal lack of
selfhood and longing for ancestry I am creeping along the sidelines of
rhetoric and process hoping for an outcome that transcends my ability to
determine the good in it.'
Celia Lisset Alvarez is a writer and educator from Miami, Florida. Her
poetry includes The Stones (Finishing Line Press, 2006) and
Shapeshifting (Spire Press, 2006), winner of the 2005 Spire Press Poetry
Award. Poems from these collections are also in the anthologies White
Ink: Poems on Mothers and Motherhood (Demeter Press, 2007) and Letters
to the World (Red Hen Press, 2008). Other stories and poems have
appeared in the Iodine Poetry Journal, the Powhatan Review, Tar Wolf
Review, Poui: The Cave Hill Literary Annual, zingmagazine, and Mangrove,
and in the anthology Women Moving Forward: Narratives of Identity,
Migration, Resilience, and Hope, Vol. 1. (Cambridge Scholars Press,
2006). Her review of Christine Stewart-Nuñez's Unbound & Branded is
forthcoming from Prairie Schooner. She currently teaches composition,
literature, scientific and creative writing at St. Thomas University in
Miami Gardens, Florida.
TALLAHASSEE COMMISSIONER'S NOVEL ATTRACTS LITERARY INTEREST
By Julian Pecquet
Tallahassee Democrat
May 19 2008
FL
When he wasn't busy practicing law or boning up on local government
issues, Tallahassee City Commissioner Mark Mustian spent the past
three years exploring his family's Armenian roots.
The result: A new novel, "The Gendarme," that has caught the eye of
publishers around the world.
The story focuses on a retired Turkish policeman who moves to
America and, in his old age, remembers his role in deporting Armenian
Christians to Syria during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.
Over the past couple of months, the manuscript has been placed with
G. P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA), which has
sold the rights in six foreign countries -- Italy, Israel, Brazil,
France, Spain and Greece. It's expected to be available by next year.
Mustian credits his topic's controversy for the interest it's getting
abroad.
It's a crime in Turkey to identify the death of an estimated 1.5
million Armenians during World War I as genocide. Last year, when
a U.S. House committee did so, the Turkish government recalled its
ambassador to Washington and threatened to withdraw its support for
the war in Iraq.
Mustian said he got interested in the topic because he'd read
survivors' tales, but had never seen anything written from the other
point of view. He has never been to Turkey, and complemented his
library research by asking for help from Turkish students at Florida
State University. But the first student who answered his ad soon
returned the manuscript.
"It was kind of an eye opener that the first person who said they'd do
it, brought the book back the next day and said 'No, I can't do it',"
Mustian said.
This is Mustian's second novel. His first, "The Return," told the
story of a Brazilian woman claiming to be Christ reborn. It was
published by Pineapple Press in May 2000.
Paul Shepherd, a writer in residence at Florida State University who
teaches creative writing, praised the new book.
"There are probably two things that in my mind go into a really
excellent novel: a gripping story and a character that really
comes alive," said Shepherd, a fellow church member of Mustian's at
St. Stephen Lutheran Church.
"The guy is a really complex character -- your feelings for him are
challenged as you read the book." Shepherd said. "I found myself
months after I read the book thinking of this guy's actions. He's an
incredibly compelling character."
AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR VISITS HIS NATIVE RACINE
By Phyllis Sides
Journal Times
April 18 2008
WI
David Kherdian set to be honored Sunday
VIDEO: Kherdian's appearance at Walden III High School
RACINE -- It's been about 15 years since David Kherdian and his wife
Nonny Hogrogian have visited Racine.
Kherdian, a Racine native, is the author of more than 50 books of
poetry, memoirs, novels, biographies and children's stories, some in
collaboration with Hogrogian.
His most recent book, "Forgotten Bread," is a collection of works
from 17 Armenian-American writers.
Hogrogian is an award-winning illustrator of children's books. The
couple are in Racine for a series of events honoring them, speaking
engagements and visits with friends.
Things have changed since their last visit, Kherdian said.
"The city has really changed, tremendously. You can know your hometown
only once. That's why I wrote 'My Racine.' It's really good to be
home again."
The visit included many highlights beginning with a reception for
Hogrogian on Tuesday at the Center for Children's Literature at
Carthage College. Hogrogian has been awarded the Caldecott Medal
twice for the most distinguished picture book of the year: in 1966
for "Always Room for One More" and again in 1972 for "One Fine Day,"
which she wrote and illustrated. Many of her illustrations are for
books of Armenian fairy tales.
On Wednesday, Kherdian spoke at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside
on "Dealing with Ethnicity and Genocide: Growing up in Racine as
an Armenian-American." His talk was hosted by the Center for Ethnic
Studies and the Center for International Studies.
On Thursday, he talked with students at Walden III High School, giving
them a poet's view of Racine while Hogrogian ate lunch with the youth
services staff at the library. Kherdian said he enjoys meeting and
talking with young people "because they are always interesting."
Kherdian gave the students copies of "The Dividing River, The Meeting
Shore" which takes us back to his childhood through his poetry.
The students also received free copies of Kherdian's "Chippecotton:
Root River Tales of Racine." "Chippecotton" is a verse history of
Racine, which he wrote, Kherdian said, because there were no good
histories of the city available.
Today, Kherdian will read selections from his Root River collection
of poems about Racine and from his new book, "Forgotten Bread," at
the Racine Public Library. The poetry reading will be followed by a
book-signing and informal reception.
On Sunday, with their visit winding down, Kherdian will be one of
the people honored by the Racine Public Library Foundation. The
foundation has selected the first recipients of the Emily Lee Award,
Distinguished Librarian Award and the Friend of the Library Award.
The award winners are Kherdian, librarian Nancy Elsmo and the Friends
of the Library. Kherdian is receiving the Emily Lee Award. The
Emily Lee Award is given to people with Racine connections who have
distinguished themselves in the world of literature. It is named
after the wife of the first president of the Library Board.
The Award recognizes Kherdian's distinguished career as a poet,
novelist, children's author and biographer.
"Receiving the Emily Lee Award, it's just incredible," Kherdian
said. "When you reach your own peers, then you know you've succeeded
if they like it. It's the hometown thing. My best work is about this
place. I've got a lot of awards, but this one is really special."
If you Go
What: A book-signing and reception with David Kherdian
When: Today, 4-6 p.m.
Where: The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St.
Admission: Free and the event is open to the public.
FYI: Kherdian will read excerpts from his new book, "Forgotten Bread,"
and will be
available to sign books and meet with the public. Books will be
available for purchase at the event.
The public also is invited to the Racine Public Library Foundation
awards luncheon from 1-3 p.m. Sunday at the Racine Marriott, 7111
Washington Ave.
Tickets for the luncheon are $35 and may be purchased at the
library. For more information, contact the library at (262) 636-9170.
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