For those interested in the English language - its violence, naturalness and unaturalness, modern poetic capacity, or jagged edges - no one in the last 150 years has used it with the same dexterity as Mr. Barker. This collection covers his early-middle period - he's written well over forty plays - where as an artist he is still searching for balance between the importance of narrative, and his sheer expressionism of language. The results are inestimable. It is a life changing threshold for any serious student of writing in theatre - having passed through work such as this, any return to what was before is almost impossible - as generations of practitioners in Europe will attest. This is the collection to start with. As a writer, Barker is prolific beyond the bounds of believability - and even his admirers have difficulty in agreeing which are his best - but here are three plays (Victory, Scenes From an Execution, and The Castle) which show an unmatched display of power and control over the medium.

Once you read Wounds, you will be in shock. It is such an amazing description of life. The variety and creativity of characters is incredible.

For a playwright who has built a career on being controversial and elusive, this collection of essays and fragments is surprisingly articulate. While it's occasionally difficult to distinguish between Barker's moments of self-deprecation and self-promotion, what's easier to recognise is that all of these pieces are thought-provoking, considered and entirely engrossing. Barker is particularly insightful on the reception of his own work by a culture which simply does not know what to do with it. "The cult of accessibility and the Theatre of Obscurity" discredits the notions of 'accessibility' and 'obscurity', and provides 'a plan for the fortification of an imaginative work' which goes a long way towards explaining why Barker writes the things he does. Similarly, "On language in drama" explains his strategic use of 'obscene' language in his plays and why it works. Interspersed with such argumentative tracts are many smaller but no less impressive observations on the nature of performance. "The anatomy of a sob" recounts what Barker considers a key moment in Ian McDiarmid's career. "On watching a performance by life prisoners" succinctly describes the liberating power of a performance which trusts the text. Love or hate Barker's work, this is a book worth reading. If nothing else, it will have you thinking about drama and questioning your own assumptions - not just about Barker's work, but about theatre and our culture in general. That's never a bad thing.

Nobody does it like Howard Barker. One of the fiercest, funniest, most provocative playwrights the English language has ever known, he nonetheless remains little more than obscure in the U.S. This collection of essays are his thoughts on theatre and his own work. Firmly Nietzschean in his thought, Barker gleefully and convincingly rips conventioanl liberal and conserative pieties to shreds. And he exposes the moral and artistic bankruptcy of our current, naturalistic theatre. Barker is convinced he's oppressed (poor baby, he's been scorned by the National Theatre, relegated to those backwaters, the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Royal Court, among others) and that he's a genius. But don't take his word for it. Do yourself and those around you who love theatre a favor and read his plays, starting with his Collected Plays, Volume 1. I started reading Barker eight years ago, and I'm still blown away each time.

There is not much to say about this book: a series of murky images of naked men printed on high quality black stock paper.

I am sure that this made for an interesting opening at an art gallery but without more explanation about the artist or a more comprehensive artist's statement, much of the impact is lost.

I was drawn to this book by its bold concept, and was pleased to see a beautifully produced book. Unfortunately, the potential of available light photography is stretched here beyond breaking point. The images are mostly nondescript blurs that could have been shot almost anywhere--except for the fleeting hints of naked men. I guess this book is sort of a Rorschach test. Apparently, some see genius in the writhing light and shadow. I see underwhelming photos in attractive packaging.

Passing by the art section in good bookstores I kept noting people paging through a dark black book about night and swimming or something like that. It stayed in my mind's eye. After reading "Nighswimmer" by Joseph Olshan and still a bit under its spell I finally picked up this art photography book. Now I've spent time inside the place the book creates and find it wholly mesmerizing. Yes, the images are tough to discern.....like looking for faces in the fog much the way lust feels after midnight. But it is the spontaneity of the moments and the sensitivity of the layout of the book that create a shoreline of approaching and receding waves: this is the way longing feels and looks. Though spare, the commentary is as terse as nervous whispers and adds greatly to the overall effect of this journey. Can't see much here? Then as in all good art, infuse your imagination and go where it feels either best or most dangerous. I like this book.