The Orgy: An Irish Journey of Passion and Transformation

By Muriel Rukeyser

Book Overview

Muriel Rukeyser's account of Ireland's Puck Fair -- the last existing pagan festival of the goat -- captures this wild and lush experience and tradition. With a preface by Sharon Olds.

Those who have traveled know the experience of extended time and sharpened perception. Muriel Rukeyser's account of Puck Fair -- the last existing pagan festival of the goat -- captures just that state of consciousness. Set in County Kerry, Ireland, The Orgy evokes this great American poet's journey of sensual and psychological transformation in the midst of a lush account of Irish culture and tradition. With a preface by Sharon Olds.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0963818325
• ISBN13: 9780963818324
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Paris Press
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 18 years and up

Customer Reviews

More Entertaining than an Orgy

This intensely interesting book, part fiction, part memoir, and part stream-of-consciousness writing, has such a unique premise (a trip to Ireland to research a wild festival first hand) that it would have been a great book even without a good writing style. Nevertheless, Rukeyser's startlingly vivid poetic sentences are a key reason to read this book as well. The narrator/author's observations are so detailed that the reader feels as though he or she is in Ireland with her. By some miracle, the details never slow the book down; I found myself regretting how quickly I'd gobbled down this marvelous book (two days). I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys travel memoirs, engaging novels, or prose poems.