{"product_id":"civil-service-poems-paperback","title":"Civil Service: Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eClaire Schwartz\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA study in complicity with crushing state violence and an invitation to a chilling, remarkable debut.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhile the spectacle of state violence fleetingly commands a collective gaze, \u003ci\u003eCivil Service\u003c\/i\u003e turns to the quotidian where political regimes are diffusely maintained--where empire is the province of not a few bad actors, but of all who occupy and operate the state. In these poems populated by characters named for their occupations and mutable positions of power--the Accountant, the Intern, the Board Chair--catastrophic events recede as the demands and rewards of daily life take precedence. As a result, banal authorizations and personal compromises are exposed as the ordinary mechanisms inherent to extraordinary atrocity. Interwoven with bureaucratic encounters are rigorous studies of how knowledge is produced and contested. One sequence imagines an interrogation room in which a captive, Amira, refuses the terms of the state's questioning. The dominant meanings of that space preclude Amira's full presence, but those conditions are not fixed. In a series of lectures, traces of that fugitive voice emerge as fragmentary declarations, charging the reader to dwell beside it and transform meaning such that Amira might be addressed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this astonishing debut, Claire Schwartz stages the impossibility of articulating freedom in a nation of prisons. \u003ci\u003eCivil Service\u003c\/i\u003e probes the razor-thin borders between ally and accomplice, surveillance and witness, carcerality and care--the lines we draw to believe ourselves \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eClaire Schwartz\u003c\/b\u003e is the poetry editor of \u003ci\u003eJewish Currents. \u003c\/i\u003eHer writing has appeared in \u003ci\u003eBeliever\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker \u003c\/i\u003eonline, and elsewhere. She lives in New York.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 72\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.4 x 8.9 x 6.3 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 02, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51766856417568,"sku":"9781644450949","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/8b7b7492399fc94d35fcd14b35097db3.webp?v=1780300085","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/civil-service-poems-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}