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E. E. Cummings
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The Enormous Room (Xist Classics) Kindle Edition

by E.E. Cummings (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 287 ratings
e.e. cummings' memoir of 4 months spent in a French prison during WWI

“By the way, a gendarme assured me this is not a prison.” ― E.E. Cummings, The Enormous Room

While e.e. cummings would later become famous for his poetry, The Enormous Room is an interesting and absurd record of his time spent as a prisoner during World War I. Cummings uses ironic humor and poetic language to twist his experience, exploring the familiar horrors of war in a new way.
This Xist Classics edition has been professionally formatted for e-readers with a linked table of contents. This ebook also contains a bonus book club leadership guide and discussion questions. We hope you’ll share this book with your friends, neighbors and colleagues and can’t wait to hear what you have to say about it.

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  1. Print length
    109 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Xist Classics
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    25 Jan. 2016
  6. File size
    1.4 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Product description

About the Author

Susan Cheever, a novelist and memoirist and the author of E. E. Cummings: A Life, lives in New York.

E. E. Cummings (1894–1962) was among the most influential, widely read, and revered modernist poets. He was also a playwright, a painter, and a writer of prose. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied at Harvard University and, during World War I, served with an ambulance corps in France. He spent three months in a French detention camp and subsequently wrote The Enormous Room, a highly acclaimed criticism of World War I. After the war, Cummings returned to the States and published his first collection of poetry, Tulips & Chimneys, which was characterized by his innovative style: pushing the boundaries of language and form while discussing love, nature, and war with sensuousness and glee. He spent the rest of his life painting, writing poetry, and enjoying widespread popularity and success.

George J. Firmage edited many works by Cummings, including Erotic Poems; Complete Poems, 1904– 1962; and Fairy Tales.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B010E13WHW
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Xist Classics
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 25 Jan. 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.4 MB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 109 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1681951645
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Customer reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 287 ratings

About the author

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E. E. Cummings

E. E. Cummings

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E. E. Cummings (1894-1962) was among the most influential, widely read, and revered modernist poets. His many awards included an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Bollingen Prize. Among his many volumes are The Enormous Room and Tulips & Chimneys.

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4 out of 5 stars
287 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers praise the book's story quality, with one noting it's a vivid contribution to World War literature and another describing it as a superb allegory of the human condition. The writing receives positive feedback, with one customer calling it a masterpiece.

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6 customers mention ‘Story quality’6 positive0 negative

Customers praise the story's quality, with one noting it is a vivid contribution to World War literature, while another describes it as a superb allegory of the human condition.

"...For its urgent appeal to humanity, this is a classic alongside E.M.Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, Alexander Solzhenytsyn, Primo Levi or Simon Wiesenthal..." Read more

"...Cummings describes many incidents in great detail ,and it is obvious to the reader that he thinks that the whole system is ludicrous and the French..." Read more

"...french and no translations are offered, and although the description in the story is great, especially when it comes to describing characters, i..." Read more

"This is a superb allegory of the human condition under authoritarian regimes...." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Writing quality’4 positive0 negative

Customers praise the writing quality of the book, with one customer describing it as a wonderful collection of poems.

"this is well written (of course it would be, it's ee cummings) but for my favourite poet i was left a bit disappointed - maybe my expectations were..." Read more

"Wonderful book of poems." Read more

"Grerat book on a reallly great subject well worth a read, a great gift for someone. well worth the money." Read more

"A masterpiece: enjoyable and appealing..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Beata Rodlingova
    5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece: enjoyable and appealing
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 February 2013
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    Linguistic mastery and dry humour at its best - both making the message of the novel all the more chilling. For its urgent appeal to humanity, this is a classic alongside E.M.Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, Alexander Solzhenytsyn, Primo Levi or Simon Wiesenthal. It is probably the most easily accessible of Cummings's work and I would recommend it to anyone who is being introduced to Cummings' writing and may feel put off by the complexity of his poetry.
    This is one of the books one keeps reading over and over and never ceases to enjoy.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • A. C. Dickens
    4.0 out of 5 stars Vivid contribution to the literature of World War I
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 October 2016
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    e e cummings was best known as an avant-garde poet with an unorthodox way with punctuation, but he was also a writer of prose and an artist. In 1917 he was arrested in Paris, apparently because his friend and companion William Brown had been writing anti-French articles, and was regarded as a potential spy. Cummings was never accused of anything except guilt by association. Cummings and Brown were shifted around for a while, ending up in a place called Macé. Here they stayed for about 3 months in "the enormous room" with about 60-70 other male prisoners (women were held in another part of the building). Eventually Cummings was released.

    In the early pages I couldn't understand why the author was describing every incident and every person he met in such great detail. But this made more sense when he reached Macé. Most of the narrative from this point on consisted of describing his fellow inmates and guards, and this is where Cummings comes into his own - he has an artist's eye for describing people and shows great empathy with the prisoners. Cummings was himself in a privileged position - he had money which he could draw on to buy cigarettes and supplement the appalling diet, and had a fur coat and bedding whilst most of his companions had no money and nothing but a straw palliasse to lie on.

    Cummings devises nicknames for his fellow prisoners and the guards - the Zulu, Trick Raincoat, the Fighting Sheeney and other colourful terms. The guards are a pitiful lot, mostly troops who are hors de combat through injury. The women, who the men are not allowed to socialise with (or they have to spend time in the Cabinot - a tiny solitary confinement cell), seem to be either prostitutes or associates (wives etc) of the men.

    Cummings describes many incidents in great detail ,and it is obvious to the reader that he thinks that the whole system is ludicrous and the French authorities despicable. At the same time he has great admiration for many of his fellow detainees.

    The end of the book is a bit weak, but the bulk of the narrative - the Enormous Room - makes a telling contribution to the literature of World War I.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Milly
    3.0 out of 5 stars it's ee cummings) but for my favourite poet i was left a bit disappointed - maybe ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 January 2018
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    this is well written (of course it would be, it's ee cummings) but for my favourite poet i was left a bit disappointed - maybe my expectations were too high. don't know if it was the version i had, but there is a few lines in french and no translations are offered, and although the description in the story is great, especially when it comes to describing characters, i just didn't get so much of a feel for it. it is short but it did seem to drag. i love his poems so much that i feel so guilty leaving three stars... but i think you'd be better reading a collection of his poetry to see the real beauty of his work
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars An ode to common humanity in the grip of petty tyranny
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 March 2013
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    This is a superb allegory of the human condition under authoritarian regimes. Above all, Cummings shows with immense warmth and fellow-feeling the mixture of pettiness, selfishness and acts of decency that is life in captivity, and he holds officialdom and its bullying minions up to withering scorn.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars I had not read E. E. Cummings before. They are amazing.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 January 2018
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    Wonderful book of poems.
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  • Dennis Mobberley
    1.0 out of 5 stars Cummings was Wise to Stick to Verse
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2018
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    Strangely disorganised and pedestrian text by the great Surrealist poet whom I have admired for thirty years.
    Given the subject matter ( World War One and pacifism ) Cummings could have made much more of it.
    Too much gratuitous French-language intellectual-speak:
    Too much Yale preppyness:
    Cummings had nothing to prove and could have spared us.
    Sadly, I could not finish the book, and you have a right to know.
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  • annie simon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 May 2014
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    I bought htis because I've always loved e e cumming's work, so decided to read about his life. Heart-warming story.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Mrs B
    4.0 out of 5 stars uplifting
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 August 2013
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    An account of his time held in the "enormous room" of the title ..
    Cummings gives us a rare view of humans surviving in situations that are completely out of their control.
    The acceptance, the simple kindness, the beauty of the most damaged people .. Cummings describes with a depth of feeling that uplifts. . . gives hope.
    I almost felt regret when he was moved and I'd not "see" the characters and the room again.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • marco beltrando
    1.0 out of 5 stars awful edition
    Reviewed in Italy on 10 December 2014
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    This edition is awful, as it it full of printing errors. I advise other reader to buy different editions. My evaluation of the book is based solely on this specific edition, as the printing mistakes take the pleasure of reading this book away
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  • John Ferra
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest books ever written in English!
    Reviewed in the United States on 28 August 2010
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    Perhaps the fact that, as I view this item, there is only one copy left in stock speaks volumes about the story itself. In continuous print since its original publication in 1921 (or 1922, I can never remember precisely), The Enormous Room is Cummings' tale of his ordeal as a prisoner of the French government during WWI. Cummings & his friend, William Slater Brown, being pacifists volunteered to drive ambulances for a French company. However, when they found that the paranoid French were heavily censoring their letters home & were spying on the foreign nationals that worked for them, Brown in particular began to include many salacious bits in his letters in order that he might really raise the ire of the censors, never thinking that he & his friend could be arrested for sedition or whatever it was that they were charged with. For four months, Cummings spent time in the grueling hell of La Ferte Mace, suffering greatly at the hands of the French who were supposed to be our allies.

    Still, rather than see this as a moment to whine about his predicament, Cummings instead employed his usual individualist outlook onto the situation. As only Cummings can, he brings to life his experience through his use of language--his characteristically lyrical English with liberal doses of his aurally received French sprinkled throughout. This edition has a handy glossary at the back to help with the translation of the massive amount of French in the book, & it also contains the original illustrations, restored to the text as Cummings himself had wanted. The use of French is interesting in itself because of how Cummings & Brown would learn the language. At the outset, their adventure begins in chaos as they are lost in Paris with no way to find their ambulance company headquarters (not that they had the desire to find their post, either). During this time, they learned French while spending time with "ladies of the evening" in the Parisian pubs of the day. This colloquial French is what finds its way into the book, with many intentional misspellings that represent to the reader the experience Cummings & Brown would have had as Americans galavanting about Paris with absolutely no knowledge of the language or the customs of the locals. It is this almost childlike approach to experience that Cummings brings to the horror of his French prison ordeal, allowing him to elevate the human spirit, through comedy & through his unique outlook on life, in a way that can only be said of E.E. Cummings.

    There are many direct allusions to "A Pilgrim's Progress," an old, English morality play (by Bunyan, I believe), as Cummings sees his imprisonment as his own odyssey of a sort. Of course, as is often the way with Cummings, there is also a healthy dose of his philosophy of the individual, of the indomitability of the human spirit, & of his sense of wonder at everything around him. He conveys things through language in a manner that is specific to the poet yet is undoubtedly the hand of a gifted novelist & storyteller. In so many ways, Cummings allows you to feel every second of his experience, at once awe-ful & awesome, a true journey to the depths of hell & back out through his own purgatory to a final salvation as he realizes that even at his lowest, he was always the free-minded individual who refused to be conquered by circumstance. This book stands alone among the many WWI novels. This is a story that is distinctly E.E. Cummings, distinctly the concision of a poet, yet beautifully crafted narrative that allows us to enter into his experience as he brings it to life on the page.

    I highly recommend "The Cummings Typescript Editions" printing of this book, with forward by George J. Firmage. This edition, of all the editions I have found, is the most true to the author's original intent & contains the manuscript as he himself envisioned it (he actually oversaw a reprinting of the book, I believe in 1935 though it might have been 1928, in which he restored all of the language as he intended it, but I do not believe this version had any of the drawings he had made for the book). The flow of the text, the very helpful glossary of French idioms, & the emotive pencil drawings that illustrate the text make this a truly unique printing of this story. It is certainly worth owning, especially if you're a fan of Cummings already. If you have never read Cummings, this is certainly a good place to start because this was his very first book, a novel, published well before he ever put out a book of poems, though as I've said the poet is certainly present in the way he crafts the narrative to bring to life the imagery that makes up any good story. Of course, given the level & copious amount of French in the book, once you've gone through it using the glossary to understand everything, you really should go back through it at least one additional time just to experience the story all the way through as a continuous work, without stopping to look up the meanings you hopefully have retained from your first read through. This book is well worth the time & effort that several readings require, but I'm not really sure it's fair to call such pleasured reading "effort."
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  • gabby
    5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry in prison during WW1.
    Reviewed in France on 7 August 2014
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    5/5 for this wry, humorous description of a French jail and its fascinating staff and inmates. Throughout his encounters EE regains an admirable detachment, Nevers really doubting that hé will survive and be delivered, to return to the US.
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  • Joanna Scribner
    4.0 out of 5 stars interesting
    Reviewed in the United States on 17 February 2022
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    So thinking back I remember very little poetry and about two poets in my childhood: Emily Dickinson, and E. E. Cummings. This was a firsthand account written by Cummings about his experience being arrested in France because he was suspected to be a spy. I enjoyed the beginning and end parts, didn’t understand many parts in the middle, and was glad I read this on the kindle app because of the convenience of the French being translated at my finger tips. Cummings is definitely a unique character.
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  • Dorothy Drinkwater
    1.0 out of 5 stars Snorefest
    Reviewed in Canada on 28 February 2024
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    I couldn't finish this book. It was just too boring. Nothing is less interesting to me than young men full of themselves.
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