First published 1987
This poetry sequence centers on Eleanora Duse, the celebrated dramatic performer whose artistry transcended the boundaries between performance and reality. Moriarty constructs a meditation that begins with "Loss as rest from meaning" and builds toward something more substantial. The poems move between what exists and what vanishes, between authentic experience and theatrical artifice. Memory becomes projection, and projection becomes hope for what an entire culture might preserve and value. Each verse brings the reader closer to some essential truth about performance, emotion, and the gap between lived experience and its representation. The spare, precise language mirrors the uncertainty at the work's heart. Duse emerges not as a historical figure but as a presence that embodies the tension between the fleeting moment and its lasting impact. The sequence asks whether mimetic gestures can ever reach the core of what they attempt to capture.
Genres: drama, art, literary-fiction, 20th-century, poetry, 21st-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: memory, representation
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
Paperback · Paradigm Pr