Ursa Major
- Publisher
- Gaspereau Press Ltd.
- Initial publish date
- Mar 2009
- Category
- Canadian
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781554470600
- Publish Date
- Mar 2009
- List Price
- $21.95
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781894031660
- Publish Date
- Oct 2003
- List Price
- $21.95
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Description
A new-edition reprint of Robert Bringhurst’s polyphonic masque. Shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2004, the National Post calls Ursa Major “a typically majestic and dedicated piece of work.”
Described by the author as “a poem that marries Cree, Roman and Greek traditions in a form that is a cross between a five-act play and a string quartet,” Ursa Major sounds out variations on the story of the great bear constellation in four languages, using parallel voices to enhance the fascinating discovery of a central myth in multiple cultures.
Ursa Major was first performed by the Regina dance company New Dance Horizons in 2002. This volume attempts to express that performance on the page, with a reading version and a multi-coloured “Voice Map” representing the poem’s polyphonic characteristics typographically. The cover and title page feature a wood engraving by Wesley Bates.
About the author
Robert Bringhurst is a poet, typographer and linguist, well known for his award-winning translations of the Haida storytellers Skaay and Ghandl, and for his translations of the early Greek philosopher-poet Parmenides. His manual The Elements of Typographic Style has itself been translated into ten languages and is now one of the world’s most influential texts on typographic design. Among his most recent publications is a pair of essay collections, The Tree of Meaning (GP, 2006) and Everywhere Being is Dancing (GP, 2007). Bringhurst lives on Quadra Island, off the British Columbia coast.
Other titles by
Being in Being
The Collected Works of a Master Haida Mythteller
Nine Visits to the Mythworld
Told by Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas
The Ridge
Learning to Die
Wisdom in the Age of Climate Crisis
Palatino
The Natural History of a Typeface
The Griffin Poetry Prize 2014 Anthology
A Seletion of the Shortlist
Story as Sharp as a Knife, A
The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World
A Story as Sharp as a Knife
The Classical Haida Mythtellers and Their World
This is What They Say (UWP)
Stories
