Out of Syllabus: Poems

Sumana Roy is one of the most original writers in Indian English today, whose writing easily slides out of the clutches of genres.-The Indian Express Every relationship is a long-distance relationship, we read in one of Sumana Roys intriguing new poems. Out of Syllabus brilliantly anatomizes those relationships, viewing them from every disciplinary perspective: chemistry, physics, biology, geography, history, botany-and finally art. The result is a dazzling dissection of love, longing, and loss in all their conflicting moods and moments. Roys images and metaphors are as enigmatic as they are precise. However private and personal her subjects, Roy maintains an aesthetic distance, wit and verbal control that recalls Sylvia Plath-but a Plath less angry, wiser-even philosophical. This is a very special book-one that deserves a wide readership. -Marjorie Perloff, Emeritus Professor, Stanford University Sumana Roys wonderful book of poems, Out of Syllabus, combines rational ordering with the unreason of striking figures of speech. The rational ordering lies in the naming of sections as items in a comprehensive syllabus: History, Chemistry, Physics and so on. The striking figures of speech are everywhere in these poems. They give out in the books title a negative as well as a positive meaning. These metaphors are often coupled to what they figure by way of a key word in Out of Syllabus: is. But you must read these powerful and challenging poems for yourself, dear reader, to get a feeling for what they are like and for what they mean as unique poetic experiences. -J. Hillis Miller, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, University of California at Irvine