Criticism > Poetry > Abse, Dannie - Publishers Weekly (review date 1993)

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Publishers Weekly (review date 1993)

SOURCE: Review of Remembrance of Crimes Past, by Dannie Abse. Publishers Weekly 240, no. 9 (1 March 1993): 51.

[In the following review, the critic offers a generally positive assessment of Remembrance of Crimes Past.]

Abse (White Coat, Purple Coat), a British physician, writes thoughtfully about medicine, ethics and the art of poetry. Much of the work is inspired by themes from his Jewish heritage that are generally handled with irony and dark playfulness. The book's title [Remembrance of Crimes Past]is a reference to a longish poem about the speaker's childhood, describing how he escaped his piano lesson to join other boys in the park and the teacher was then “dismissed.” This small crime stands out against the background of Hitler's Europe: “Later, only the landing light / under the bedroom door: / no hectoring voices, / no blameless man-sized scarecrow / being...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Roland Mathias (essay date 1967)
   2. Michael Mott (review date 1971)
   3. Times Literary Supplement (review date 1973)
   4. Dannie Abse and Mark Boada (interview date 1975)
   5. John Mole (review date 1977)
   6. Joseph Cohen (essay date 1983)
   7. Gigliol´ Sacerdoti Mariani (essay date 1983)
   8. Vernon Scannell (essay date 1983)
   9. Choice (review date 1984)
   10. Michael O'Neill (review date 1987)
   11. Genevieve Stuttaford (review date 1991)
   12. Publishers Weekly (review date 1993)
   13. Clara Gyorgyey (review date 1998)
   14. Ray Olson (review date 2000)
   15. Nicholas Wroe (essay date 2001)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. How to Analyze a Poem
2. Poetry