The poetry and prose collected inPlainwaterare a testament to the extraordinary imagination of Anne Carson, a writer described by Michael Ondaatje as "the most exciting poet writing in English today." Succinct and astonishingly beautiful, these pieces stretch the boundaries of language and literary form, while juxtaposing classical and modern traditions. Carson envisions a present-day interview with a seventh-century BC poet, and offers miniature lectures on topics as varied as orchids and Ovid. She imagines the muse of a fifteenth-century painter attending a phenomenology conference in Italy. She constructs verbal photographs of a series of mysterious towns, and takes us on a pilgrimage in pursuit of the elusive and intimate anthropology of water. Blending the rhythm and vivid metaphor of poetry with the discursive nature of the essay, the writings inPlainwaterdazzle us with their invention and enlighten us with their erudition.

Anne Carson's new book, <b>Men in the Off Hours</b>, is available from Knopf. Ms. Carson is the recipient of many awards, including the 1996 Lannan Award and the 1997 Pushcart Prize, both for poetry. She will be teaching at University of California, Berkeley, in the spring of 2000.