"The Occupied World is Alice Major's seventh collection, and it eloquently connects the public and private worlds of poetry. As a public poet, Major is completing a two-year term as the first poet laureate of Edmonton. Much of the book revolves around her private interest in subjects like ancient folk traditions, quantum physics, and number and string theory. Major uses simple declarative sentences as ways of framing poems, and unsentimental precision marks her style. "I Never Thought I'd Write a Hockey Poem" is perhaps the most public poem in the book, having been commissioned for public performance by the mayor of Edmonton and published in the Globe and Mail. It's about the Oiler's joyously improbable playoff run last spring." Maurice Mierau, Winnipeg Free Press, November 26, 2006
"In this work in particular Alice connects the public and private worlds of poetry. As a public poet, Major is completing a two-year term as the first poet laureate of Edmonton. Much of The Occupied World revolves around her private interest in subjects like ancient folk traditions, quantum physics, and number and string theory. She uses simple declarative sentences as ways of framing poems, and unsentimental precision marks her style." Sheelagh Caygill, January 29 2007, full review at: www.blogeclectic.com/blog/Writing_-_Blogging
"Alice Major's latest collection of poems, The Occupied World, is thematically occupied with one central concern: What does it mean to be a citizen? Major, the city of Edmonton's poet laureate, writes passionately and convincingly about the texture and heritage of the modern city. One of Major's strengths is her striking use of imagery..She also captures the variability of city life, from the endless theatrics of children to the somber rituals observed within a city's limits..But the book is rooted in history, from the opening section of poems, which uses the extended metaphor of ancient Roman rituals for sanctifying the ground on which new cities are founded, to the closing series about the geological history of Edmonton." Ian LeTourneau, Legacy, Spring 2007.
"[Roy] Miki's Alberta colleague, Alice Major, works in the older tradition of short, natural-voice, lyric free-verse poems and does so with impressive scholarly vigour...A really fine lyric is a noble thing to hunt for. Poet Lorna Crozier has often captured it and might be Major's closest literary relative -- though parts of The Occupied World are also reminiscent of that small branch of scientific-style poetry practised in Canada by the stellar Mari-Lou Rowley. Lyle Neff, Vancouver Sun, April 7, 2007
"So many troubling connotations to 'occupations'! Major tackles the complex meaning of the word, and the result is a dark and thoughtful collection of poetry with equal tendencies toward pessimism and beauty..Heady stuff, indeed. Major's first collection written as poet laureate for the City of Edmonton, The Occupied World is a far cry from civic boosterism. It might fairly be called the opposite: a sober voice calling for a more considered approach to the way we humans 'occupy' our world." Evan Osenton, Alberta Views, April 2007.
"Nature, the constructed world and time are frequent topics in The Occupied World, by Alice Major, Edmonton¹s first-ever poet laureate. And all three interrelate. Among evocative descriptions of rivers and bridges, trees and oil wells, Major weaves images of pendulums, babies that might or might not be born and 'borrowed days', all suggesting a pause in time, a suspended moment in which something is decided. Such pauses feel somewhat ominous, like a warning birdcall in a seemingly safe forest. For carried within the poems is the reminder that we'll ultimately get what we deserve from the decisions we make in carving our constructed world out of nature. Yet Major's message, while steadfast, is communicated with a light touch." Kristine Kowalchuk, Westworld, April 2007.
