Inspired by the flotsam of contemporary culture, Philip Terry transforms Shakespeare's sonnet sequence into a celebration of language unleashed. The results are as disrespectful and anarchic as a cartoon – and as assured in their control of line. Philip Terry, an acclaimed translator of the poetry of Raymond Queneau, plays language games by the rules of Oulipo in his creation of a Shakespearean chimera, the hybrid that takes on a life of its own.
About the Author
Philip Terry was born in Belfast and has taught at the universities of Caen, Plymouth and Essex, where he is currently Director of the Centre for Creative Writing. His books include the anthology of short stories, "Ovid Metamorphosed" (2000), the poetry collections "Oulipoems" (2006), "Oulipoems 2" (2009) and "Shakespeare's Sonnets" (2011), and the novel "Tapestry" (2013), which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. He is the translator of "Raymond Queneau's Elementary Morality" (2007), and Georges Perec's "I Remember" (2014). "Dante's Inferno", which relocates Dante's poem to current-day Essex, was published in 2014 and was an Independent poetry title of the year.
Reviews
"The English language is shape-shifting, and Philip Terry has turned onto its multiple modern metamorphoses to produce a witty, subtle and unprecedented fugue with variations. Shakespearean themes of love, regret, loss, and misanthropy gleam through a sumptuous ventriloquising of varied idiolects taken from the new media and the global infotainment traffic, seemingly infinite permutations of structure and syntax show a delighted agility and command of intervention. I am admiring, diverted, baffled, and moved by this original, contemporary re-engagement with the Sonnets" – Marina Warner
