Introducing Irony: A Book of Poetic Short Stories and Poems

audiobook

Introducing Irony: A Book of Poetic Short Stories and Poems

by Maxwell Bodenheim

EN·~1 hours·32 chapters

Chapters

32 total

INTRODUCING IRONY

0:35

JACK ROSE

1:50

SEAWEED FROM MARS

5:23

TURMOIL IN A MORGUE

3:22

CONDENSED NOVEL

2:07

MANNERS

1:38

AN ACROBAT, A VIOLINIST, AND A CHAMBERMAID CELEBRATE

2:34

NOVEL CONVERSATION

2:00

THE SCRUB-WOMAN

1:54

MEDITATIONS IN A CEMETERY

2:11

Description

A kaleidoscopic mix of verse and flash fiction, this collection invites listeners into worlds where irony tiptoes between the mundane and the extraordinary. The pieces drift from cramped city alleys to the rust‑red dunes of an imagined Mars, each line humming with a sharp, lyrical edge that makes ordinary moments feel oddly profound. The author’s language is both spare and richly layered, turning everyday details into miniature poems that linger long after the final line.

Among the most arresting entries is a bleak portrait of a street‑wise dealer whose hollow bravado masks a fragile loneliness, while another sequence launches readers onto a Martian landscape where seaweed, seasons and sound intertwine in surreal meditation. These contrasting sections reveal a fascination with the contradictions of modern life—desire and denial, beauty and decay—rendered with a wry, almost musical cadence. The result is a compact, thought‑provoking journey that rewards careful listening and invites multiple returns.

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Details

Language

en

Duration

~1 hours (110K characters)

Publisher of text edition

Project Gutenberg

Credits

Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

Release date

2019-10-05

Rights

Public domain in the USA.

About the author

Maxwell Bodenheim

Maxwell Bodenheim

1893–1954

A sharp-edged poet and novelist of the early modernist scene, he moved through Chicago and Greenwich Village with a reputation as bold as his writing. His life became almost as legendary as his books, ending in one of the most tragic stories in American literary bohemia.

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