The Vast Extent

'[Greenlaw] wields her erudition lightly.' Sunday Times



'Remarkable, visionary.' CELIA PAUL



'Indescribably brilliant.' Daily Telegraph



'Kaleidoscopic.' Guardian



'A rare pleasure . . . rewarding and thought-provoking.' Irish Times





From the celebrated poet, novelist and memoirist, The Vast Extent is a constellation of "exploded essays" about light and image, seeing and the unseen. Each is a record of how thought builds and ideas emerge, aligning art, myth, strange voyages and scientific scrutiny with a poet's response so that they cast light upon each other.



In this original and illuminating work, Lavinia Greenlaw invites us to observe our world and beyond with a new sensitivity.



Lavinia Greenlaw has published three novels and six collections of poetry. Her works of non-fiction include Some Answers Without Questions, The Importance of Music to Girls and Questions of Travel: William Morris in Iceland. Her writing has appeared in frieze, the London Review of Books and the New Yorker, among other publications.