Matthew Ladd (MFA, 2006)
Waywiser Press, 2010
ISBN: 9781904130437
The Book of Emblems takes its title from the devotional genre, popular throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, whose allegorical illustrations were meant to focus the mind on the divine. Using a variety of narrative voices, a taut lyricism, and an array of imageries culled from the author’s travels in the United States and abroad, this volume celebrates the mind’s aspiration to a deeper understanding of its own mysteries: the literary and visual arts, sexuality, familial love, and the dark, connective wonder of death. The collection heralds the arrival of remarkable new voice.