{"product_id":"v-paperback-1","title":"V. - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eTony Harrison\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Star\u003c\/em\u003e: 'A plan to televise a poem packed with obscenities caused outrage last night. ITV chiefs intend to screen a reading of Tony Harrison's verse \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e which is full of four-letter words.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDaily Mail\u003c\/em\u003e: 'A torrent of four-letter filth... the most explicitly sexual language yet beamed into the nation's living rooms... the crudest, most offensive word is used 17 times.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eGerald Howarth, MP: 'It is full of expletives and I can't see that it serves any artistic purpose whatsoever.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eMary Whitehouse: 'This work of singular nastiness.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarold Pinter: 'The criticism against the poem has been offensive, juvenile and, of course, philistine. It should certainly be broadcast.'\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eTony Harrison's \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e was written during the Miners' Strike of 1984-85 when he visited his parents' grave in a Leeds cemetery and found it vandalised by obscene graffiti. In the book-length poem, he confronts the foul-mouthed skinhead thug responsible, who becomes a foil for his own anger and alienation. The political and media reaction to \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e would make a book in itself. This is that book. As well as Tony Harrison's poem and Graham Sykes's photographs, this new edition of \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e includes press articles, letters, reviews, a defence of the poem and film by director Richard Eyre, and a transcript of the phone calls logged by Channel Four on the night of the broadcast.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e'If I had the slightest influence over educational policy in this country, I'd see that \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e was a set text in every school in the country, but of course if we lived in that sort of country, the poem wouldn't have needed to be written' - Richard Eyre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eChannel Four's film of \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e won the Royal Television Society's Best Original Programme Award.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe ebook with audio edition uses a recording of Tony Harrison reading \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e made by Whistledown Productions and first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 18 February 2013. The feature \u003cem\u003ev. by Tony Harrison\u003c\/em\u003e was rebroadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 6 November 2025.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTony Harrison\u003c\/strong\u003e (1937-2025) was Britain's leading film and theatre poet. He published eight titles with Bloodaxe from 1981 to 1995, including \u003cem\u003eThe Gaze of the Gorgon\u003c\/em\u003e (1992), winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award, and his book-length poem \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ev. \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e(1985\/1989).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis films using verse narrative include \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, broadcast by Channel 4 television in 1987 in a film directed by Richard Eyre which won a Royal Television Society Award. The controversy around the broadcast led to \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e. becoming his best-known work.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTony Harrison (1937-2025) was Britain's leading film and theatre poet. He has written for the National Theatre in London, the New York Metropolitan Opera and for the BBC and Channel 4 television. He was born in Leeds, England in 1937 and was educated at Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University, where he read Classics and took a diploma in Linguistics.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe moved to Newcastle in 1967 to become the first Northern Arts Literary Fellow (1967-68), a post he held again in 1976-77, and was resident dramatist at the National Theatre (1977-78). His work there included adaptations of Molière's \u003cem\u003eThe Misanthrope\u003c\/em\u003e and Racine's \u003cem\u003ePhaedra Britannica\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis first collection of poems, \u003cem\u003eThe Loiners\u003c\/em\u003e (1970), was awarded the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1972, and his acclaimed version of Aeschylus's \u003cem\u003eThe Oresteia\u003c\/em\u003e (1981) won him the first European Poetry Translation Prize in 1983. Bloodaxe published his \u003cem\u003eDramatic Verse 1973-1985\u003c\/em\u003e in hardback in 1985, with a paperback following from Penguin under the title \u003cem\u003eTheatre Works 1973-1985\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe published several poetry titles with Bloodaxe, including \u003cem\u003eA Kumquat for John Keats\u003c\/em\u003e (1981), \u003cem\u003eU.S. Martial \u003c\/em\u003e(1981), \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e (1985\/1989), \u003cem\u003eThe Fire-Gap\u003c\/em\u003e (1985), \u003cem\u003eA Cold Coming\u003c\/em\u003e (1991), \u003cem\u003eThe Gaze of the Gorgon\u003c\/em\u003e (1992) and \u003cem\u003ePermanently Bard: Selected Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e (1995). \u003cem\u003eThe Gaze of the Gorgon\u003c\/em\u003e (1992) won the Whitbread Poetry Award. Neil Astley's critical anthology \u003cem\u003eTony Harrison\u003c\/em\u003e (1991) included several essays and texts collected or published there for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarrison's adaptation of the English Medieval Mystery Plays cycle was first performed at the National Theatre in 1985. Many of his plays were staged away from conventional auditoria: \u003cem\u003eThe Trackers of Oxyrhyncus\u003c\/em\u003e was premièred at the ancient stadium at Delphi in 1988; \u003cem\u003ePoetry or Bust\u003c\/em\u003e was first performed at Salts Mill, Saltaire in Yorkshire in 1993; \u003cem\u003eThe Kaisers of Carnuntum\u003c\/em\u003e premiered at the ancient Roman amphitheatre at Carnuntum in Austria; and \u003cem\u003eThe Labours of Herakles\u003c\/em\u003e was performed on the site of the new theatre at Delphi in Greece in 1995. His translation of Victor Hugo's \u003cem\u003eThe Prince's Play\u003c\/em\u003e was performed at the National Theatre in 1996.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis films using verse narrative include \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ev.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e, broadcast by Channel 4 television in 1987 and winner of a Royal Television Society Award; \u003cem\u003eBlack Daisies for the Bride\u003c\/em\u003e, winner of the Prix Italia in 1994; and \u003cem\u003eThe Blasphemers' Banquet\u003c\/em\u003e, screened by the BBC in 1989, an attack on censorship inspired by the Salman Rushdie affair. He co-directed \u003cem\u003eA Maybe Day in Kazakhstan\u003c\/em\u003e for Channel 4 in 1994 and directed, wrote and narrated \u003cem\u003eThe Shadow of Hiroshima\u003c\/em\u003e, screened by Channel 4 in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the first atom bomb. The published text, \u003cem\u003eThe Shadow of Hiroshima and Other Film\/Poems\u003c\/em\u003e (Faber, 1995), won the Heinemann Award in 1996. He wrote and directed his first feature film \u003cem\u003ePrometheus\u003c\/em\u003e in 1998. In 1995 he was commissioned by \u003cem\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/em\u003e newspaper to visit Bosnia and write poems about the war.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis most recent poetry collection, \u003cem\u003eUnder the Clock\u003c\/em\u003e (Penguin, 2005), was followed by \u003cem\u003eCollected Poems\u003c\/em\u003e (Viking, 2007) and \u003cem\u003eCollected Film Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e (Faber, 2007). His latest book is \u003cem\u003eFram\u003c\/em\u003e (Faber, 2008), a work for theatre premièred at the National Theatre in 2007. He received the David Cohen Prize for Literature in 2015.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 82\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 8.5 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 25, 1989\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52728131289395,"sku":"9780906427972","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/7DsyWsOZ1D9780906427972.webp?v=1783729984","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/en-ca\/products\/v-paperback-1","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}