Archive of the Undressed

From twirling tassels to dead playmates Archive of the Undressed is a sharp, darkly comic look at the image of women in a society between changing sexual mores. Jeanette Lynes brings her iconic style to these poems, fearlessly critiquing attitudes towards women, poking at Canadian identity and finding something sexy in the settlement of “The Queen’s Bush,” Northern Ontario. A wickedly pointed and funny collection, Archive of the Undressed will overturn any reader’s belief that poetry is boring.

AUTHOR

Jeanette Lynes

Jeanette Lynes teaches English at St. Francis Xavier University. Her articles on Atlantic-Canadian literature have appeared in Studies in Canadian Literature; Wascana Review; The River Review (Maine); A Sense of Place: Re-Evaluating Regionalism in Canadian and American Writing (edited by Riegel and Wyile, University of Alberta Press); and Canadian Children’s Literature. Jeanette Lynes’ first collection of poems was published by Wolsak and Wynn in 1999.

Reviews

“In essence, Lynes is the Tina Fey of Canadian poetry. She’s at her best when combining the farcical with a sharp eye for the telling detail…. Though it revisits a historical period, there’s nothing dated about Archive of the Undressed: it’s smart, funny and relevant.” – The Toronto Star

“This book is great, rollicking fun, and a joyous pop-camp romp. To read the queen of CanPo popcult’s defiant deconstruction of skin-mag culture is a welcome shot in the arm for anyone who wants Canadian poetry to occasionally be more damn fun.” – Canadian Poetries

“Lynes builds lines of connection with the women she portrays. She presents them intimately, makes them so real they seem touchable ? probably not unlike the way Playboy readers felt decades ago when they gazed upon the first centrefolds.” – The Quill & Quire