A trilogy of neo-epic long poems from the cult-favourite author of Riverwork, now in a single volume.
XEclogue, Debbie: An Epic, and The Weather are Lisa Robertson’s first three books, published separately in the 1990s but written as a trilogy. These much-sought-after early works, together for the first time, are a glimpse into the foundations of an influential poet.
As a young poet, Robertson was interested in large, inappropriate, ostentatious literary gestures as a way to elude the stifling constraints of poetic tradition. These early books each mimic one of the three classical styles of Virgil, pastoral, epic, and didactic, letting feminist voices turn the ancient forms inside out.
The reworked neo-epics trouble the essentialist values of Nation, the gender binary, and heroic expansion, in favour of the politics of decolonized pleasure. What if the Roman citizen were a shepherdess, a cheerleader, a feminist videographer? What if they existed in a punk anthem, a parade, a catwalk show, a communal garden, a weather report? What would collective queer joy look like in a poem? And how do we deal with the traditions we loathe even as they speak through our psyches, our tongues?
With influences ranging from Vivenne Westwood to Judith Butler to Frank O’Hara to the BBC shipping reports, The Virgil Trilogy will delight dedicated Robertson fans and offer an essential introduction to new readers.