Ian Hamilton Finlay

This generous selection of writings surveys the life and work of the Scottish poet Ian Hamilton Finlay. Best known for his extraordinary garden, Little Sparta, a unique "poem of place" in which poetry, sculpture, and horticulture intersect, this book directs sustained attention to Finlay the verbal artist, revealing the full breadth and richness of his poetics. It illuminates the evolution from his early years of poverty in the Highlands composing plays, stories and lyrical poems, to his discovery of Concrete poetry, and his emergence as a key figure in the international avant-garde of the 1960s. Finlay's formal innovations--one-word poems, kinetic bookworks and poem-objects--culminated in the great adventure of the garden. Many of these texts were originally published as limited edition postcards and booklets. Here, for the first time, the full spectrum of Finlay's writings is made available.