The Enormous Room

by Cummings, E.E.

• ISBN13: 9780486421209
• ISBN10: 0486421201
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-08-26
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

One of the most important and popular American poets of the 20th century, E. E. Cummings is best known for his brilliant and innovative verse and its distinctive lack of uppercase letters and conventional grammar. He was also a Cubist painter and a World War I veteran. At the age of 23, he abandoned his artistic pursuits for voluntary service as an ambulance driver in France. His military career culminated in a comedy of errors leading to his arrest and imprisonment for treason, as he memorably recounts in The Enormous Room. Cummings transforms a tale of unjust incarceration into a high-energy romp and a celebration of the indomitable human spirit that ranks with the best of its contemporaries, including the works of Hemingway and Dos Passos. This edition restores a significant amount of material deleted from the book's initial publication in 1922 and features Cummings' original illustrations. Unabridged republication of the edition published by Boni & Liveright, Inc., New York, 1922. New Publisher's Note. 57 black-and-white illus.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
I Begin a Pilgrimage	1	(12)
En Route	13	(8)
A Pilgrim's Progress	21	(15)
Le Nouveau	36	(30)
A Group of Portraits	66	(17)
Apollyon	83	(17)
An Approach to the Delectable Mountains	100	(22)
The Wanderer	122	(9)
Zoo-loo	131	(14)
Surplice	145	(9)
Jean Le Negre	154	(15)
Three Wise Men	169	(12)
I Say Good-bye to La Misere	181