Item #229286 God Hunger. Poems by. Thomas M. Disch, Michael Ryan.

Tom Disch's Copy

God Hunger. Poems by.

New York: Viking, 1989.

Price: $250.00


About the item

First edition, ADVANCE PROOF. 1 vols. 8vo. Tom Disch's Copy. Yellow wrappers with typed reviewers' blurbs affixed to upper cover, publisher's stamp announcing publication date "8/89" and price "$17.95". Minor rubbing. Near fine.

Item #229286

Frm the library of poet, critic, and science fiction author Tom Disch (1940-2008), who panned Ryan's book in a review for THE NATION. With several unflattering notes on Disch's hand in the margins, underscorings, and marks. Laid in is a photocopy of a typed letter signed by poet Ryan to The Nation editor, complaining of Disch's review, and particularly this comment by Disch: "In pop music there is Bon Jovi and Guns 'n Roses; in the movies there's Chuck Norris and Sean Penn; in poetry there is Michael Ryan, and doubtless many more."
With two items in praise of the review: a loosely inserted postcard from poet and translator F.D. Reeve to editor Victor Navasky, reading in part “congratulations and gratitude to Mr. Disch for his review ‘The Rhyme Scheme’ … I’d like to let you know how highly I regard his work in THE NATION.” And an autograph letter, signed, from poet Michael Heller, reading in part “Your ‘The Rhyme Scheme’ wonderful … Your precise articulations of Ryan’s fatuousness! I wrote some pieces for Parnassus on the baleful po biz some years back.”

Disch collected several of his essays and reviews on poetry in The Castle of Indolence: On Poetry, Poets, and Poetasters (1995) and The Castle of Perseverance: Job Opportunities in Contemporary Poetry (2002).