Troubled Lovers in History

<div> <p><i>Troubled Lovers in History</i> demonstrates an exhilarating range: from the briefest of lyrics to rich and multipartite narrative adventures in exotic realms; from a comic monologue spoken in immigrant Yinglish to a soulful elegy set in San Antonio's Pearl Beer brewery plant; from Martian invaders through polar explorers to all of us busy inflicting words with edges on those we love.</p> <p>Goldbarth sets his unflinching study of individual hope and grief against the backdrop of history: the travels of Marco Polo; Bertha and Wilhelm Rontgen's discovery of X-rays; an 1800 battle twixt Dragon Sam the great Exhaler of Gouts of Amazing Flame . . . and Liquid Dan the Living Geyser.</p> <p>From the night stars to the little starring parts we all play every day <i>Troubled Lovers in History</i> takes us into the text of our dreams and despairs as witnessed by the writer whom Joyce Carol Oates called a poet of remarkable gifts-a dazzling virtuoso who can break your heart.</p> </div>