{"product_id":"9781770462076","title":"Poetry Is Useless","description":"\u003cstrong\u003ePoetry Is Useless\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Anders Nilsen\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003ePoetry is Useless\u003c\/i\u003e, Anders Nilsen redefines the sketchbook format, intermingling elegant, densely detailed renderings of mythical animals, short comics drawn in ink, meditations on religion, and abstract shapes and patterns. Page after page gives way under Nilsen's deft hatching and perfectly placed pen strokes, revealing his intellectual curiosity and wry outlook on life's many surprises.\u003cbr\u003eStick people debate the dubious merits of economics. Immaculately stippled circles become looser and looser, as craters appear on their surface. A series of portraits capture the backs of friends' heads. For ten or twenty pages at a time, \u003ci\u003ePoetry is Useless\u003c\/i\u003e becomes a travel diary, in which Nilsen shares anecdotes about his voyages in Europe and North America. A trip to Colombia for a comics festival is recounted in carefully drawn city streets and sketches made in cafes. \u003ci\u003ePoetry is Useless\u003c\/i\u003e reveals seven years of Nilsen's life and musings: beginning in 2007, it covers a substantial period of his comics career to date, and includes visual reference to his books, such as \u003ci\u003eDogs \u0026amp; Water,\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eRage of Poseidon, \u003c\/i\u003eand the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eNotable Book \u003ci\u003eBig Questions\u003c\/i\u003e. This expansive sketchbook-as-graphic-novel is exquisitely packaged with appendices and a foreword from Anders Nilsen himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Rapturous, meticulous pen-and-ink pointillism . . . Sprawling, uncanny work.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eBig Questions\u003c\/i\u003e] is filled with verdant deep-space landscapes--rendered in a lush stipple and hatching inking technique--and with sparely rendered characters that misapply mystical significance to their circumstances.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781770462076\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Drawn and Quarterly","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":40596197998798,"sku":"9781770462076","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_d0e3b933-a586-433e-a16e-62ca808593ae.jpg?v=1637852151","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781770462076","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}