Aaron Kunin: The Sore Throat and Other Poems

Spoken words

Aaron Kunin, author of the novel The Mandarin, straddles that literary fence of poet/fiction-writer (or fiction-writer/poet, depending on your view). A master of both lyrical balance and fine, angst-ridden storytelling, he serves up this collection with a defiant bent that shines through a great deal of raw self-awareness. In the collection, Kunin explains that he’s been “compulsively transcribing everything I say, hear, read or think” over the past few years, which may explain why his personal vocabulary plays out so well on the page and when read aloud. In mapping out his take on Ezra Pound’s “Hugh Selwyn Mauberley,” his awareness of his own linguistic tics proves especially handy.