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Synopsis
When Kafka Met Einstein is the first full collection from Scottish poet James Knox Whittet. The poems combine the playful and the intellectual, moving easily between Nietzsche and the Teletubbies. Brought up on the island of Islay, some of Knox Whittet’s poetry is inspired by the landscapes and history of Scottish islands, while elsewhere he is at Newport Pagnell Service Station at 3am, or writing about Iris Murdoch’s Alzheimer’s. There is also a poem about the little-known fact that Hitler attended the same school as Wittgenstein. James Knox Whittet was born and brought up on the Hebridean island of Islay, where his father was head gardener at a small castle. His poems have won the George Crabbe Memorial Award three times. His first poetry pamphlet, A Brief History Of Devotion, was published by Hawthorn Press in 2003; his second, Seven Poems for Engraved Fishermen, was shortlisted for the Callum MacDonald Award from the National Library of Scotland (2004). He has previously edited two acclaimed anthologies for Iron Press: 100 Island Poems of Great Britain and Ireland (2005) and Writers on Islands (2008); the latter was nominated by the Scotsman as one of the Books of the Year. He now lives in Norfolk.
From Kafka to Einstein, by James Knox WhittetSurely this powerful collection is destined to feature among books of the year. The poems are notable for the sustained elegiac quality with which Knox Whittet engages with people, places and situations. All are treated with understanding and compassion, though not without wit as when he addresses Stephen Hawking “as you slyly wink at the Creator“ or finds himself in a church where God is being pelted with enthusiasm.. Knox Whittet ventured away from the Hebridean islands where he was raised but they never leave him. The images they yield of light playing across water, flames in a cottage hearth, waves falling upon a shore, suffuse his work, become the elements from which he draws his music. He pays tribute to their people and their poets. “Peaches” is a painfully moving account of his father’s final days. The ghosts of his past are always at hand so that he finds himself “not knowing whether I lead or follow”.Yet he does in fact lead, out into a world of intellect and feeling. He takes us to Prague, for example, during a period when Kafka and Einstein did meet regularly. These two men in their distinctive ways both undermined the old certainties. Their experiences bracket the book, containing as it does many accounts of isolation alongside which love becomes more precious, as displayed by Etty Hillesum on her last journey - in a cattle truck. So there is much dignified sadness here but alongside that are many celebrations of everyday things like the delphiniums that pencil “moving measurements of themselves“ or the rowan trees that let “fall their berries like droplets of claret on goose-fleshed water“.In short one might say that as befits a native of Islay he shares generously a well-matured whisky that fires up the tongue.Bob Ward
Bob Ward
When Kafka Met Einstein reviewI have to come clean at the outset and state that I know James Knox Whittet as a personal friend.'When Kafka Met Einstein' is a book that embodies the best of James' work to date. James is a quiet man, reluctant to get into conversation, so when you read his poems you realise how deeply he hews the language in order to assign the clarity, beauty and depth to what he has to express.He writes with breadth and authority; he obviously thinks fully about his subjects. I find his ability to convey it with the clearest, simplest language remarkable.James has a sound grasp of a wide range of poetic form and uses them brilliantly. Sonnets sit quietly alongside other traditional and more modern forms. Many times I have read James or heard his chanting and enchanting readings without realising until much later that his poems are often full of rhyme; so subtle and unforced it slips by unnoticed.'When Kafka Met Einstein' is a book that should not be languishing on anyone's poetry bookshelf; it should be in the hand, being read avidly. It is a book full of sure human observation, quiet politics, wit, surprise and beauty.James is a deservedly multi-prize winning poet who should be much more widely known. He speaks through his work and has much to say. He deserves to be listened to.If you can get to one of his readings don't miss it.You can often find where he is on http://suffolkpoetrysociety.org.uk.
Colin Whyles
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