Nightboat Books, NY. 2014. Full publication of texts and research influenced by Anglo-Saxon and early medieval North Sea literature, alongside a report into a devastating migrant crossing of the Mediterranean left to drift despite being spotted on many radars.
It includes 3 poetic sequences, 2 ink drawing sequences, abstract maps on black pages, photographic work (by Tom Martin), and a longer essay. Expanded and revisited following the performance of the same name. Designed by Pablo Lavalley.
Texts: Seafarer – Shake – Noping – Log.
A book as filled with ghosts as with beauty, as driven by intellect as by wanderlust. Publishers Weekly
Reviews
Aine McMurtry: Sea Journeys to Fortress Europe: Lyric Deterritorializations in Texts by Caroline Bergvall and José F.A. Oliver in Modern Language Review, vol.113, no.4, Oct 2018. Abstract.
Catherine Humble: Exposed to the Other: Responding to the Refugee in Caroline Bergvall’s Drift in Wilding Analysis: From the Couch to Cultural and Political Life (London: Routledge, 2018). Book chapter.
Áine McMurtry: Giving a Syntax to the Cry: Caroline Bergvall’s Drift, Paragraph, Jun 2018, vo. 41, No. 2. Absract.
Katy Lewis-Hood: Clouding knowledge in the Anthropocene: Lisa Robertson’s The Weather and Caroline Bergvall’s Drift – Green Letters Studies, Ecocriticism, 2018 – Essay
Adelaide Morris: Forensic Listening: NourbeSe Philip’s Zong!, Caroline Bergvall’s Drift, and the Contemporary Long Poemin Dibur Literary Jounal, Issue 4, Spring 2017 – PDF –
Bruno Ríos: Drift de Caroline Bergvall in Literal Magazine. On translating Drift into Spanish. In Spanish. March 2017.
Caroline Bergvall: Infra-Materiality and Opaque Drifting in Minding Borders, eds. Adriana Jacobs et al, Legendia, 2017 – PDF – A recent research essay of mine on Drift. With colour photos by Tom Martin.
Greg Bem: Drift review RainTaxi, Summer 2015
Clara Sankey: Drift Review The Improbable, Feb 2015
This sense of directionlessness – the Vikings called it hafvilla: not knowing where one is on the sea – is the singular thread that ties the book together. Review featuring scans of some of the drawings in great new mag .
Tim Freeborn: Shake that Microtone: Caroline Bergvall’s Drift Rusty Toque, Nov’14 issue, great art & lit net mag. Part of a Special Feature
David Kaufmann: Drift book review in Asymptote Oct 2014
“Caroline Bergvall’s latest book, Drift, is haunted by the loss of the thorn, the yogh, and Anglo-Saxon generally”.
Alice Saville: Drift at the Forge, London, Exeunt magazine Oct 14
“Poet Caroline Bergvall’s Drift is a multi-millenniumal mashup of sea stories”.
Cherry Smyth: DRIFT review in Art Monthly Oct 14 – PDF –
“Drift marks a significant ethical engagement for poetry in these isles”. Cherry Smyth reviews the performance and the book for Art Monthly, Oct 14
Sophie Mayer: Drift at the Southbank Centre: All at Sea The F-Word 26 Aug 2014
“Watching this in performance, the testimony is almost overwhelming”. Sophie Mayer reviews DRIFT live at the Purcell Room and the book. For .
Sarah Dawson: Drift at the Southbank Centre: I went to see
19 July 2014
I went to see Drift by Caroline Bergvall last Thursday. The Purcell Room.
Steve Mentz: Caroline Bergvall’s Drift
2 June 2014
Gorgeous, intricate, impassioned writing. A review of the book and a reader’s report w/ other links
Publishers Weekly: Book review: Drift 14 May 2014 -PDF-
