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The Enormous Room
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
e.e. cummings' memoir of 4 months spent in a French prison during WWI By the way, a gendarme assured me this is not a prison. ? E.E. Cummings, The Enormous Room While e.e. cummings would later become famous for his poetry, The Enormous Room is an interesting and absurd record of his time spent as a prisoner during World War I. Cummings uses ironic humor and poetic language to twist his experience, exploring the familiar horrors of war in a new way. This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This ebook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope youll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and cant wait to hear what you have to say about it.
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review
The_Penniless_Author
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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Mehso-so

A bildungsroman detailing the three months Cummings and his friend, B., spent in a French prison during WWI (due to B.'s less than complimentary accounts of the French authorities' management of the war effort in his letters home). This is held up as a sort-of spiritual predecessor to Catch-22, and Cummings can be quite funny in his skewering of the prison administration. He is also, of course, a poet, and there are some beautiful passages and

The_Penniless_Author inventive wordplay in this book that by themselves justify giving it a chance. That said, there are other, even longer sections that drag on interminably. The narrative isn't chronological but a series of vignettes - descriptions of prisoners, routines, etc. - that can be disorienting at times. Possibly this was done deliberately to mirror the effect of being in prison, where time begins to lose its meaning, but that doesn't make it any pleasanter 1y
The_Penniless_Author to slog through. 1y
33 likes2 comments
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The_Penniless_Author
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

We had succeeded, my friend B. and I, in dispensing with almost three of our six months' engagement as Conducteurs Volontaires, Section Sanitaire Vingt-en-Un, Ambulance Norton Harjes, Croix Rouge Americaine, and at the Moment which subsequent experience served to capitalize had just finished the unlovely job of cleaning and greasing (nettoyer is the proper word) the own private flivver of the chef de section...

The_Penniless_Author ...a gentleman by the convenient name of Mr. A. 1y
The_Penniless_Author Phew, that was a longer first line than I bargained for! 🥵🤣 1y
ShyBookOwl 😅 1y
32 likes3 comments
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RobinGustafson
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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I always enjoy receiving the latest NYRB Book Club Selection. This one by ee cummings sounds really interesting!

10 likes1 stack add
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Aimeesue
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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‘A Note on the Author of “The Enormous Room”‘

“He has been the terror of typesetters, an enigma to book reviewers and the special target of all the world‘s literary philistines.”

Brilliant. They really don‘t write ‘em like they used to, do they?

Lcsmcat I wonder if he wrote that himself. 5y
16 likes1 comment
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Aimeesue
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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NF haul, plus the Modern Library e.e. cummings I forgot in last post.
#modernlibrary

Nute Nice! 5y
vivastory I LOVE Edward Hirsch's books 5y
Aimeesue @Nute I was excited! 5y
See All 11 Comments
Aimeesue @vivastory I‘d never heard of him, but it seemed like something I should read. I don‘t read much poetry, but it feels like I should. (I‘ll just note here that I CAN recite Jabberwocky and On Flanders Field from memory tho) 5y
Lcsmcat The Enormous Room was a surprise hit for me when I read it. Very different from his poetry. 5y
vivastory Very impressive, Jabberwocky is one of my favorites. Hirsch is great at being accessible & informative without talking down. He's so genuinely passionate about poetry & it really comes across. 5y
Leftcoastzen I love the Cummings too. 5y
BarbaraBB Me too 5y
Aimeesue @Lcsmcat I found it in a poetry display! I bought it because it was a ML edition, but didn't realize it was prose until I got it home. 5y
Aimeesue @Leftcoastzen @BarbaraBB I am so glad to hear that! The "A Note on the Author" intro is cracking me up. ? 5y
Lcsmcat @Aimeesue Funny! I knew it was prose, but also bought it because it was ML. 5y
31 likes11 comments
review
Lcsmcat
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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Pickpick

I picked this up at a library sale thinking, “Hmm, I didn‘t know Cummings wrote prose.” It‘s a Modern Library edition, which was an indicator of quality, so I bought it. I‘m so very glad I did! While a knowledge of Pilgrim‘s Progress and the ability to read French is a help, an understanding of irony is a must. 👇🏻

Lcsmcat He paints wonderful character sketches with his words, and leads us to unmistakable insights into human nature, the workings of bureaucracy, and the machinations of war. By turns droll and full of pathos, this book is a gem. Photo, from Google, is La Cour of the detention center where Cummings was held. 6y
LeahBergen Great review. 👏🏻 6y
Aimeesue "Indicator of quality" YES! MLs are also the perfect size for me, and are so well constructed. I just love them. 5y
Lcsmcat @Aimeesue They are the perfect size. I love the durability of hardback books, but my hands get tired holding them. 5y
57 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Lcsmcat
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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@jillrhudy Here‘s my collection of Blumenthal bindings. I also have The Confessions of Saint Augustine, with its dust jacket, but it‘s a Style 11 binding. Thanks for pointing it out! I‘ve now gone down a rabbit hole of information about the Modern Library editions! #modernlibrary

jillrhudy Awesome! 6y
45 likes1 comment
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Lcsmcat
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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“I smelled the bread furtively. It smelled rather much like an old attic in which kites and other toys gradually are forgotten in a gentle darkness.”
You can hear the poet through his prose.

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Lcsmcat
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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“Bread without wine doesn‘t taste good.” And since we stocked up on bread . . .
(Notice the tablecloth, @4thhouseontheleft ? )

saresmoore I inherited this same tablecloth from my mom! 😅 6y
Lcsmcat @saresmoore A popular one, then! 6y
alisiakae 😃😃😃 @saresmoore mine is also inherited from my mom, but it is significantly more faded than yours @Lcsmcat 🍁🍂 6y
67 likes3 comments
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Lcsmcat
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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#HurricaneFlorence book 3. I bought this at a library sale and am curious to see what cummings‘ prose is like.

BookishBeth I had to recite a poem for an English final back in college. I was shy but in awe of the professor for the class. Without thinking of how I would feel while in front of him, just him, I chose “i like my body when it is with your”. It‘s a pretty intense sexy poem. Thank god there was a tiny window I could look out to avoid eye contact. 6y
jillrhudy It‘s a Blumenthal Modern Library! 6y
Lcsmcat @jillrhudy Yes. I have a few volumes. I like to shop library sales and used book shops. 😀📚 6y
50 likes1 stack add4 comments
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Kristelh
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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#reading1001 “the only living hippopotamus in captivity” Cummings is drawing the reader images of the persons he encounters while in a detention camp.

8 likes1 stack add
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Kristelh
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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“A Reynard expression”. Reynard the Fox, a trickster figure from medieval French tales. #reading1001 #1001travelingbookswap.

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Kristelh
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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#reading1001 #1001travelingbookswap “a room, pretty nearly square, filled with rows of pillars.

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Kristelh
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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#1001travelingbookswap I finished it #1001diversity. Now I‘m studying it.

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Kristelh
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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10 likes1 stack add
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Lcsmcat
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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My #bookhaul from this morning‘s visit to the library book sale. All of this for $17! And for a good cause. 😀

emilyhaldi 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 7y
DivineDiana Great haul!!! 7y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Great deal!!! 7y
See All 6 Comments
SledgeReader Yay! Love the library book stores! 7y
LeahBergen Nice! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 7y
ValerieAndBooks Wow, that‘s a great haul and great deal!! 7y
66 likes6 comments
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Wilkie
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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Poetry in Barcelona #booksinbarcelona #barcelona

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ephemeralwaltz
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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vivastory I love ee cummings 7y
61 likes1 comment
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WanderingBookaneer
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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Sending this out today. Thanks, @JenP for including me in such a cool book swap. #1001BookSwap.

JenP So glad you were willing and able to join! 7y
LibrarianRyan Did you ever get my envelope of games. I can't find my tracking slip to check. 7y
WanderingBookaneer @LibrarianRyan : OMG, yes!!!! It was amazing. Thank you so much! 7y
LibrarianRyan @WanderingBookaneer yeah. I might have more. Now that it's warming up I can get into my library and craft room more to unpack. 7y
95 likes4 comments
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Leftcoastzen
Enormous Room | E E Cummings
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Today is EE Cummings Birthday. There was a time I was reading a lot of WW 1 related books , and this one stood out,fiction but autobiographical, Cummings signed up for a stint as an ambulance driver.Censors felt his letters home were anti war, he couldn't muster real hatred of the Germans.They threw him into a prison camp.His father interceded on his behalf , he was in about 4 months.His wit shines through in his analysis of his absurd situation.

Suet624 Wow! I didn't know this. I'll have to find the book. 7y
23 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
BarbaraBB
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
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Pickpick

I actually liked this one, I can say after finishing it. While reading I sometimes dreaded the description of all the personages in the enormous room, a prison in France during WWI, where people where being held on, for example, stealing a tin of sardines. However, the descriptions are very lively, I can see the different people and am sure they'll be with me for some time to come. #1001books

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EKonrad
The Enormous Room | E.E. Cummings
Pickpick

This is a really interesting memoir of Cummings' time in a French concentration camp during World War I. It's both heartbreaking and at times humorous. So glad @SerialReader had this one. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

13 likes2 stack adds
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GoneFishing
The enormous room | E. Cummings

O gouvernment francais, I think it was not very clever of You to put this terrible doll in La Ferte; for when Governments are found dead there is always a little doll on top of them, pulling and tweaking with his little hands to get back at the microscopic knife which sticks firmly in the quiet meat of their hearts.

23 likes1 stack add