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Dr. Mephisto is in the form of a long sequence of poems. It traces Mephistopheles as he ranges freely through time and space, at times a laconic observer, at others a thuggish participant, but always a presence wherever there is conflict and suffering and whenever there is work to be done. Far from being oppressive, this is an exciting and highly original work, whose exhilarating pace is set by Emery's innovative use of language and form, and whose acerbic political edge keeps the vision sharp and fresh. Compelling, hard-hitting, and grimly funny, Dr Mephisto will be remembered long after being read, and a significant new poetic voice will have been recognised.
List of contents
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- The Pendulum
- The Gift
- The Levitation
- Hermes Lives
- Mephisto Sleeps
- The Evocation Speech of Asmoday
- Underground
- The Flight
- The Burial
- The End
- Sebastião
- Köpfe
- Mephisto's Pockets
- The Moment
- The Scourge
- The Hippogriff
- The Cruci¿xion
- Mephisto Sweeps the Desert
- Mephisto Redivivus
- Mephisto Deals the Tarot
- The Prayer
- Shulamith
- The Mother
- Lullaby
- To Tease Contrariwise
- Boom Ballast
- Mattress Thought
- Udder Music
- Transformer
- Exterminator
- Pandemonium
- Cleaving
- Ariadne
- Quoit
- Melatonin
- Zion
- Dreck
- Shulamith's Night Song
- Shulamith's End Song
- Dream Bunions
- Bucket Elegy
- Germinator
- Generator
- Drum Song
- Zero Start Scenario
- Notes
About the author
Chris Emery is a director of Salt. He has published three collections of poetry, a writer's guide, an anthology of art and poems, and edited editions of Emily Brontë, Keats and Rossetti. His work has been widely published in magazines and anthologised, most recently in
Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe). He is a contributor to
The Cambridge Companion to Creative Writing, edited by David Morley and Philip Neilsen. He lives in Cromer, North Norfolk.
Summary
A tenth anniversary edition of Chris Emery’s black comedy debut, Dr. Mephisto, made simultaneously available in print and electronic form. Flamboyant, funny, poignant and excessive, Emery’s modernist work is a picaresque, historical road show of hell from the brink of the 21st Century.
