Mandelson! Mandelson! A Memoir
This is a story of life in the age of Mandelson: politician, aesthete, director of communication.
Is it possible to be happy in the age of Mandelson? Moderniser, trouble-shooter, king-maker, architect of New Labour, power-broker, agent, asset, confidant: Peter Mandelson is emblematically, and maybe literally, the major political figure of our age. But who's happy? Whatever happened, "Mandelson! Mandelson!" wants to know, to happiness as a political imperative? And whatever happened to the public good? Oh, and while we're at it, how come some people are more answerable than others? And anyway, who said work was more important than pleasure? And what should my end be? And what form should I take? And who's welcome? And who isn't? "Mandelson! Mandelson!" A Memoir wants answers to these questions and more: an account – why not? – of an unaccountable age.
Since David Herd began writing this book Peter Mandelson has twice had to resign from cabinet office, and has thrice come back, defying all political gravity. He is unique, amazing, charmed, doomed.
"Mandelson! Mandelson!" is formally a various book; this is very much part of its point. It incorporates, among other forms: the sonnet, the villanelle, a noh play, a prose poem, diagrams, pictures, poems in quatrains, lists, haiku-like observations, non-haiku-like observations, free verse, a photograph, a bank statement and a disclaimer.
Is it possible to be happy in the age of Mandelson? Moderniser, trouble-shooter, king-maker, architect of New Labour, power-broker, agent, asset, confidant: Peter Mandelson is emblematically, and maybe literally, the major political figure of our age. But who's happy? Whatever happened, "Mandelson! Mandelson!" wants to know, to happiness as a political imperative? And whatever happened to the public good? Oh, and while we're at it, how come some people are more answerable than others? And anyway, who said work was more important than pleasure? And what should my end be? And what form should I take? And who's welcome? And who isn't? "Mandelson! Mandelson!" A Memoir wants answers to these questions and more: an account – why not? – of an unaccountable age.
Since David Herd began writing this book Peter Mandelson has twice had to resign from cabinet office, and has thrice come back, defying all political gravity. He is unique, amazing, charmed, doomed.
"Mandelson! Mandelson!" is formally a various book; this is very much part of its point. It incorporates, among other forms: the sonnet, the villanelle, a noh play, a prose poem, diagrams, pictures, poems in quatrains, lists, haiku-like observations, non-haiku-like observations, free verse, a photograph, a bank statement and a disclaimer.
About the author
David Herd is a poet, critic and teacher. He has given readings and lectures in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, the USA and the UK, and his poems, essays and reviews have been widely published in magazines, journals and newspapers. His collections of poetry include "All Just" (Carcanet, 2012) and "Outwith" (Bookthug, 2012), and his recent writings on the politics of human movement have appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, Parallax and Almost Island. He is Professor of Modern Literature at the University of Kent and a co-organiser of Refugee Tales.
Reviews
"...a tour de force display of wit and technique, terrific poem after terrific poem" – Poetry Review
"...a dizzy and disorienting chain of teasing, clever, breezy challenging, ingratiating, and infuriating poems... there are many poems here that will put a spring in your step, and make your mind dance" – Tower Poetry
"A scintillating first collection of poems" – Scotland on Sunday
"...a dizzy and disorienting chain of teasing, clever, breezy challenging, ingratiating, and infuriating poems... there are many poems here that will put a spring in your step, and make your mind dance" – Tower Poetry
"A scintillating first collection of poems" – Scotland on Sunday