The Laurelude

A Poetry Book Society Recommended title, The Laurelude bursts all borders, literary and political, creating a zone where the Hollywood musical meets the Jolly Beggars, where lament bumps into love lyric, where the dictionaries go to die. Herbert's book is in three sections. The first section, ""The Laurelude,"" is a blank verse myth about Ulverston's Idiot Boy, Stan Laurel. ""Othermoor"" depicts a cubist version of the North where the Wild Boy himself, the late William Burroughs, rewrites the rules. And ""The Madmen of Elgin"" squashes both Lost Boys and Solitary Reapers into Middle Scots verse forms for a pre-millennial song-and-dance.