God Complex

God Complex , Rachael Allen''s second collection, is a sweeping and corrosive epic, a narrative poem that tells the story of the breakup of a toxic relationship in the face of the similarly toxic catastrophe of global degradation and disaster. Through the fiery and unstable speaker of the poem, these conditions become fused, lending themselves to the depiction of unutterable thoughts and seams of emotion. Measuring the impact of pollutants through an instrument of bodily grief and loss, perspective starts to blur and logic distorts, creating an entwining of human and landscape that culminates in a hallucinogenic alternative reality. Loss is divined everywhere, in human relations, in the ruptures of class and privilege, in the poisoning of the planet. But it is through the purgatorial leavening of pain that the narrator works towards a more devotional life, one that derives healing from the delicate, persistent systems of a nonhuman landscape. The result is visionary, a book that vibrates with urgency and feeling.

About the author

Rachael Allen is the author of Kingdomland and God Complex, both published by Faber. Kingdomland (2019), was a Poetry Book Society Choice. She was the recipient of a Northern Writers' Award and an Eric Gregory Award. She was born in Cornwall, and works as an editor and lecturer.

Summary

LONGLISTED FOR THE LAUREL PRIZEGod Complex is a sweeping and corrosive epic, a narrative poem that tells the story of the breakdown of a relationship against a backdrop of progressive environmental degradation.

Product details

• Authors: Rachael Allen, Allen Rachael
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 18.01.2024
• EAN: 9780571379910
• ISBN: 978-0-571-37991-0
• No. of pages: 112
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 198 mm x 9 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; POETRY / Women Authors, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / General, Poetry by individual poets, Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards), Poetry / poems by individual poets