OFF COURSE: ROUNDABOUTS & DEVIATIONS is A. Robert Lee’s latest collection that interleaves poetry and prose. Beneath the carefully crafted and accessible surface of Lee’s work lies a profound, complex voice that deliberately disrupts traditional literary boundaries and distinctions. Different takes on the odd, oftentimes the antic, at work in the daily round. Seamed in wit, dark but congenial humor, Lee’s work is aimed to amuse yet at the same time, stir recognition. Fake correspondence might just be real. Foodways edge towards the gothic. Each composition comes over as slant, diagonal, oblique. Set phrases turn askew. Geographies un-map themselves, whether ostensibly Europe, England Japan, or America. Of course, it’s all OFF COURSE. Enchanting tales of travel and transformation, comedy and capitalism, and unforgettable stories that teach us about our present as well as our past, OFF COURSE uses irony to tickle the mind. It reminds us that contradictions in life are inescapable, and how precarious and unpredictable life really is. Acerbic, volatile and incisive. Life episodes take on the patina of waking slumber, not to say japery and the absurd. Read OFF COURSE without discretion, and take out some personal insurance before reading.
Here's What People Are Saying
“What great fun to read A. Robert Lee’s new book, OFF COURSE! Since his Tokyo Commute (2001), I’ve followed with joy the off-course adventures and meanderings in the books of this world-traveler and literary critic-author. The wry humor, quick insight, and tremendous knowledge mark him as a top-quality creative writer. This time, more than ever, he’s intensely into what words can do. With daring and speed, he creates crystal-clear vignettes, bringing into life scenes of his childhood or travels, both the dangerous moments and happy ones, with his unmistakable energetic rhythm.” ~Shoko Miura, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
“Readers shouldn’t worry. In this new collection, OFF COURSE: ROUNDABOUTS & DEVIATIONS, A. Robert Lee is very much on course. Wonderful floating worlds in a variety of voices. Eyes on and yet at same time well beyond the road. ~Andrew Hook, The University of Glasgow
“Starting with the striking cover illustration, A. Robert Lee’s OFF COURSE: ROUNDABOUTS & DEVIATIONS offers good cause for the reader to leave the straight and narrow for the surprising linguistic adventures of his world. His collection of sketches in poetry and prose offers oblique glances at language, life, and cultural quiddities that delight with laughter and pensiveness.” ~Rex Burns, author of The Alvarez Journal and other Mysteries (1975)
“Often witty, usually wry, and always wise, A. Robert Lee’s poems and vignettes of word magic prove that a wormhole view is in fact the widest lens.” ~Cathy Covell Waegner, University of Siegen, Germany
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