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The Tradition read again with the years
Ascerbic, crisp and correct-- brilliant essays.
What criticism should be.
Worthy collection
prose from a great literary figure

Selected Prose of T.S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Collected Poems, 1909-1962 (The Centenary Edition)
Christianity and Culture
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The Cambridge Companion to T. S. Eliot (Cambridge Companions to Literature)
T.S. Eliot: An Imperfect Life

ASIN: 0156806541

Book Description

Thirty-one essays-categorized as “essays in generalization,” “appreciations of individual authors,” and “social and religious criticism”- written over a half century. This volume reveals Eliot’s original ideas, cogent conclusions, and skill and grace in language. Edited and with an Introduction by Frank Kermode; Index. Published jointly with Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Customer Reviews:

The Tradition read again with the years .......2004-12-08

When I was in graduate school Eliot was considered the great literary critic of the twentieth century, the person who set the tone . His understanding of the Literary Tradition and how each new author altered the way we read the whole was part of the ' religion' of literary studies. So too his essays on Dante and on the Metaphysicals ( his placing Donne at the center of the Tradition) and his famous reading of Hamlet in which he argued that there was emotion in excess of the objective situation, i.e. that there was no appropriate 'objective correlative'. As a graduate student I somehow went along with the crowd and did not have much to say about Bleider with a Burbank,and Bluestein with a Cigar' i.e. the culturally anti- Semitic Eliot. That Anti- Semitism along with a certain racism and anti- Feminism are too we have learned parts of the Literary Tradition .So some of the most beautiful and great works of literary creation are marred by moral failings. How ironic that Eliot who was a spiritual teacher in time should have been so faulty in this way .

Ascerbic, crisp and correct-- brilliant essays. .......2004-10-03

An excellent selection of essays by Eliot. He is at his best in many of these-- ascerbic, crisp and correct. I am constantly amazed by the number of people who have opinions about the ideas and theories of Eliot, but who have never read his essays themselves. I suggest that before taking umbrage at what he is supposed to have said, a student of the modernists should at least read a bit of what he did say.

This selection is broken into two categories: Literary Criticism and Social and Religious Criticism. Essays such as "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and "What is a Classic?" (compare and contrast with G. Stein in "What are Masterpieces?") are particularly worth the time to read.

I wish that Kermode had included more of the social and religious essays and that he had not excerpted as heavily as he did throughout the book. I would personally rather read a longer book consisting of complete essays than having such a high percentage of the selection consisting of excerpts. Of the meagre three essays in the social and religious section, two were excerpted rather than being published in their entirety. Too bad.

What criticism should be........2002-12-28

Eliot's reputation has taken a beating in the last 20 years. He has been charged with anti-semitism, racism, elitism, and even misogyny. All of these charges are basically true. Nevertheless, as a critic his judgements are sound and dead-on. Read either "Traditon and the individual Talent" or "Dante" from this book and tell me if you think I am wrong. The book is worth the price for these two essays alone.

Worthy collection.......1999-07-13

I found this book to be a useful compendium of essays that are usually scattered or incompletely represented in anthologies. It's an excellent supplement for a course on Eliot's work or to learn more about his critical perspectives and how they shifted over time. Very worthwhile.

prose from a great literary figure.......1998-08-13

A good selection of prose from T. S. Eliot. After years of reading, I still find his prose more effective and more useful than his poetry. (I know -- sheer heresy.) Eliot places great emphasis on The Tradition and on an impersonal approach to art, an emphasis which aspiring writers of today would be wise to heed. Like Matthew Arnold, Eliot's criticism is dogmatic, and right. The reader's only wish is that this collection included more.

Baudelaire Rimbaud Verlaine: Selected Verse and Prose Poems

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poets of evil

Baudelaire Rimbaud Verlaine: Selected Verse and Prose Poems
Charles-Pierre Baudelaire
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Baudelaire in English (Poets in Translation, Penguin)
Selected Poems (Oxford World's Classics)
Rimbaud: Complete Works, Selected Letters
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The Flowers of Evil (Wesleyan Poetry)

ASIN: 0806501960

Book Description

Here, for the first time, the work of three of Frances greatest poets has been published in a single volume: the sensual and passionate glow of Charles Baudelaire, the desperate intensity and challenge of Arthur Rimbaud, and the absinthe-tinted symbolist songs of Paul Verlaine.

To bring the essence of these three giants of modern poetry to the American public, Joseph M. Bernstein, a noted interpreter and translator of French literature, has selected the most representative of their writings and presented them along with a biographical and critical introduction.

"Not to know these three poets", he points out, "is to deprive oneself of a pleasure as rare as it is indispensable to any real understanding of the aims and direction of modern literature.

The volume includes Arthur Symons' unabridged translation of Flowers of Evil and the Prose Poems of Baudelaire; Louise Varese's translation of Rimbaud's A Season in Hell and Prose Poems from "Illuminations"; J. Norman Cameron's translation of the verse from the Illuminations; and a representative selection from Verlaine's verse translated by Gertrude Hall and Arthur Symons.

Customer Reviews:

poets of evil.......1999-02-19

I think I have a better instinctual understand of these "decadents" who were the clear marking of the break between the old aesthetic rationality and the surrealism, symbolism, etc. that followed--those who actually blend the periods, smudge and blur the two worldviews, like Poe and Blake and, here, Baudelaire do. I like Baudelaire's phantasmagoria, his exoticism put in service of delivering a concrete insight. And I especially like it when the poetic histrionics of "Flowers of Evil" give way to the fascinating prose poems--like "The Confiteor of the Artist" or the marvellous war-against-poetry volley "The Courteous Marksman." Other fine ones (reminding me also of Lovecraft)--"The Evil Glazier," "At One O'Clock in the Morning," "Solitude." There's misanthropy, insight and occult broodishness here of the most useful sort.

Rimbaud and Verlaine didn't grip me as strongly--I appreciate that they stretched artistic boundaries, but what they have done intrinsically I don't find as rich. Rimbaud's religious ravings and visions I find intelligent but obscurant (like Wallace Stevens)--he's doing some constructive deconstruction, but it's hardly readable (though I do like the more coherent symbolism of the famed "Drunken Boat"). And Verlaine, while he has the occasional dead-on whimsical insight, is a bit too florid in verbiage, classical in form, and even conventional for me. With these latter two poets, I think my concern with translated poetry also must come in at full force--this sort of wordplay and deliberate suggestiveness must be highly dependent on the nuance of the original words, and must therefore lose something considerable in English.--J.Ruch

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Tome essential to all theatre artists
The theatre, life and writings of a brilliant lunatic
Artaud: what and where and how were you thinking?
Full of Sympathy for Van Gogh
Essential!

Antonin Artaud: Selected Writings
Antonin Artaud
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520064437

Book Description

A revolutionary figure in the literary avant-garde of his time, Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) is now seen to be central to the development of post-modernism. His writings comprise verse, prose poems, film scenarios, a historical novel, plays, essays on film, theater, art, and literature, and many letters. Susan Sontag's selection conveys the genius of this singular writer.

Customer Reviews:

Tome essential to all theatre artists.......2001-06-26

Studying Artaud is one way of taking a deep dive off into the realm of the unknown. His struggle to fully comprehend and describe lucidly his thought process and the clockwork of his soul; his obsessive desire and drive to break beyond the mundane level of median psycological theatre to rediscover the fiery roots and potent magic of the theatre event; and his visionary words---all of these combine to give us a man who was deep, profound and troubled---hence, utterly human, and truly inspirational to any theatre artist or artist in general. This translation of some of his most essential writings is essential to anyone who wishes to study the avant garde theatre. His influence is at times lucid and clearly defined; at other times, one sees that the myth of Artaud has distorted what the actual man wanted and worked for. In dealing with any artist who has created such a controversy (in his own time as well as in our time), one has to approach his work with the discipline of a tightrope walker. And Sontag's work provides the researcher with a straight, keen and powerful translation. Among the other translations of Artaud, this one is the best anthology available for the experienced researcher and the burning initiate. Read it as an athlete of the heart.

The theatre, life and writings of a brilliant lunatic.......2001-05-27

This isn't a book that you read from cover to cover. Find a subject that interests you. Then another. And then another. Soon you'll find yourself caught in his web of genius. His madness came from his endless spring of sanity that could no longer hold up under the insanity of the world he lived in. Genius suffers. He suffered too much. Years ago I saw a one man play "Artaud's Project" in Chicago. Best piece of theatre I've ever seen. This was my introduction to Artaud. This book captures this brilliant lunatic's crystal clear vision and pain. His letters are prehaps the highlight of this collection. This book is not for the masses, though, I wish it were. So much insanity and ignorance could be wiped out in a single stroke if people understood this man. Of course the sane appear to be insane in an insane world. If any of what I've said makes the least bit of sense to you this book is for you!

Artaud: what and where and how were you thinking?.......2000-06-30

Selected Writings isn't an easy read. I jumped around a lot. This stuff is the most intense stuff I've ever come across. Artaud is one of the most important writers to rationalise beyond logic. His ideas on Van Gogh prove, beyond doubt, that his sense of aesthetics was far more acute than his contemporaries. They always said weird stuff about Neitszche, how he was more 'in touch with himself' than other writers or, indeed, society at large. But Artaud explodes that idea, since he continually toys with his own sense of himself to the extreme. Reading Artaud for prolonged periods is like going beyond this (his) sense of self to another place, something completely new and agonizing. His ideas abouty the theatre are quite well established but there is other stuff here. The poems, monologues and just the sheer variety of 'inner scenarios' at play here really astounds you. 'To have done with the judgement of God' must be the most extreme form of self expressed mental torture around! (incidentally, am I correct in thinking there is a recording of this piece knockin' around?) Anyways, please take a slice of the insanity, you never know where it will lead you...

Full of Sympathy for Van Gogh.......2000-05-24

This book offers selections on a much broader range of interests than my own. Understanding the nature of deep empathy seems easiest to me in the 1947 work, "Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society" on pages 481 to 512. Artaud only lived from 1896 to 1948, but he seemed to be strangely affected by the coronation of Heliogabalus which began in the year 217. Artaud was not reading the history of events lightly when he reported "that the historians begin to go mad with rage." (p.317) Artaud was on the side of the emperor who picked his victims from among the aristocrats in "a kind of superior anarchy" which "runs from jewel to jewel, from outburst to outburst, from form to form, and from flame to flame, as if he were running from soul to soul in a mysterious interior odyssey which no one after him ever repeated." (p. 329) Strangely enough, this seems very modern to me, approaching what is now considered the height of entertainment.

Essential!.......1999-12-22

Artaud is more pertinant to today's world and the battle for sanity in an insane world than any other writer save William Burroughs. As Poe, Rimbaud,Lautreamont and De Nerval were influentual to generations of writers decades after their work; so does Artaud promise to be the next great muse of the new. This book is for anyone who is interested in the most intrigueing of experimental literature.

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Finally, Marinetti in English

Selected Poems and Related Prose
F. T. Marinetti
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Critical Writings: New Edition
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ASIN: 0300041039

Book Description

F.T. Marinetti (1876-1944) is widely known as the founder of Futurism, an early twentieth-century cultural revolution. This volume, a translation of more than forty poems and prose works by Marinetti, presents premier examples of his rich poetic creations, many for the first time in English. The collection represents the entire span of the poet's career, and it includes Marinetti's early lyrical works, poems of battle, "Words in Freedom," and love poems to his wife. There is also a biography of Marinetti and a critical review of his poetic accomplishment.

Customer Reviews:

Finally, Marinetti in English.......2002-11-27

An interesting compilation of Marinetti's best texts and poems, translated for the first time into English. It will help us to understand why Marinetti can be called the founder of literary avant-garde.

Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke (Modern Library)

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5 stars for the original poetry, 1 star for the translations
Lush, Alive and Vivid Addition to Your Rilke Collection
poetry from the soul
eloquent and thought provoking
Suspicious Translation

Ahead of All Parting: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Rainer Maria Rilke (Modern Library)
Rainer Maria Rilke
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0679601619
Release Date: 1995-08-01

Customer Reviews:

5 stars for the original poetry, 1 star for the translations.......2006-12-01

Rilke is just about my favourite poet... a true master. In the German, his verse is just sublime.

These translations, however, are shockingly bad. Not only does the translator completely ignore (or distort) some of the key images, he invents new ones for no apparent reason. Mitchell seems to think he is there to improve on the original. He doesn't.

If you don't read German, you should only buy this to read Mitchell's verse. You won't be getting Rilke's.

Lush, Alive and Vivid Addition to Your Rilke Collection.......2006-01-29

I am a passionate, ardent admirer of Rilke so
before I even opened this book I knew I would
be delighted because of its sheer weight and size.

Oh, YES! I thought to myself.

And then I opened it - and the very first selection
is Rilke's evocative poem, "I live my life in
Widening Circles" with the German on one page
and the English on the facing page.

I don't even speak German - but I love looking
at Rilke's original words - just LOOKING at them
elevates me. I also think that the side-by-side
translation says something of translater Stephen
Mitchell's love for the original.

I also enjoyed the Selected Prose. In reading it
I felt like I was stepping into Rilke's den for
a chat and either strong coffee or a cocktail.

This would be an excellent introduction to Rilke
or a fine compliment to anyone's Rilke Library.

poetry from the soul.......2004-12-02

I recently discovered Rilke, and am much the better for it - his craft with words literally gives one goosebumps. The poetry portion of _Ahead of All Parting_ is dual language, so readers of German can enjoy the original as well as Mitchell's translations. The book also contains copious notes about many of the poems (when they were written, what was going on in Rilke's life) as well as a section of his published and unpublished prose, which I found almost as vivid and beautiful as his poetry. The book itself is also physically beautiful - the pages are delicate, further adding to the sensusousness of the reading experience.

eloquent and thought provoking.......2004-06-03

ahead of all parting is a book that i treasure above all others. after reading a friends copy, i immediately ran to the bookstore that same night, and paid full price for it. something i rarely do, by the way. rilke is one of the most eloquent and beautiful writers that i know of. his poetry is some of the most thought provoking and uplifting that i have ever read. he saw things and felt things differently than the average person, and in turn used that to build his poetry and prose. mitchell is the best english translator for rilke's work, it's not perfect, but it's not bad. i have nothing but praise for rainer maria rilke. for all poetry lovers out there, i definately recommend you pick up a copy of this book, you will not regret it.

Suspicious Translation.......2004-02-22

The three stars I give this book are more for Rilke than for his rather poor translator.

I first became suspicious of Stephen Mitchell when I noticed some rather careless mistakes in this book (for instance, translating the German word for Moon into sun).

But I was no longer suprised by these flaws when I noticed some other works that Mitchell has translated:
the Bhagavad-Gita
The Book of Job
The Gospel
The Tao-Te-Ching

I suppose it is theoretically possible for there to exist an individual that is so immensely talented with languages that he is capable of translating adequately texts from Sanskrit, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Classical Chinese, and German.... But I don't think Mitchell is that individual.

That being said, the poetics of the translation are very nice and the poems to feel pretty close to Rilke. However, to do this (whom I consider the most profound poet to ever take up a pen) author justice, I am just going to have to learn German for myself

The World According to Itzik: Selected Prose and Poetry

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The World According to Itzik: Selected Prose and Poetry
Itzik Manger
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A Shtetl and Other Yiddish Novellas
Of Lodz and Love (Library of Modern Jewish Literature)
Tevye the Dairyman and The Railroad Stories (Library of Yiddish Classics)

ASIN: 0300092482

Book Description

In the years between 1929 and 1939, when Itzik Manger wrote most of the poetry and fiction that made him famous, his name among Yiddish readers was a household word. Called the Shelley of Yiddish, he was characterized as being "drunk with talent." This book-the first full-length anthology of Manger's work-displays the full range of his genius in poetry, fiction, and criticism. The book begins with an extensive historical, biographical, and literary-critical introduction to Manger's work. There are then excerpts from a novel, The Book of Paradise, three short stories, autobiographical essays, critical essays, and finally, Manger's magnificent poetry-ballads, bible poems, personal lyrics, and the Megilla Songs. These works, which have the patina of myths acquired ages ago, also offer modern psychological insight and irrepressible humor. With Manger we make the leap into the Jewish twentieth century, as he recreates the past in all its layered expressiveness and interprets it with modernist sensibilities.

Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)

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Sor Juana (Penguin)
Ehhh...
A superb introduction to a great mind
Female Intellectualism

Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)
Juana Ines de la Cruz
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith
The Answer / La Respuesta, Including a Selection of Poems (A Feminist Press Sourcebook)
Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women's Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century (Religion in North America Series)
I, The Worst of All (Yo, la Peor de Todas)
Sor Juana's Second Dream: A Novel

ASIN: 0140447032

Customer Reviews:

Sor Juana (Penguin).......2006-11-10

An excellent selection of texts--from the "Response" to the long poem "First I Dream" to some wonderful short poems and the "loa" or dramatic prologue to the drama "The Divine Narcissus." Margaret Peden's translations are fluent and readable, and the Spanish is on facing pages so you see the original easily. Ilan Stavans' introduction is very helpful, giving the facts of Sor Juana's life (insofar as known), the complexities of the situation that the "Response" addresses, and some help with the context and conventions of her poetry. Sor Juana is an astounding writer--her subtlety and complexities unfold more and more as you read and reflect on her writings. The "Response" is a rhetorical complex defense of her position as a "learned" woman, gathering the rhetorical authority to defend herself out of the very sources (the Bible, church teachings) that were used to attack her and turning the persona under which her Bishop attacked her (a letter pretending to be by a fellow nun) into a deft weapon against him. She articulates a tradition of women's learning and turns a seemingly self-effacing self-limitation to the "philosophy of the kitchen" into a far-reaching claim to a unique female source of knowledge. The "loa" presents dramatically the complex interaction between a colonizing and colonized culture, native language and a Spanish that is becoming at home in the New World, and a native religion which is not simply abandoned for Catholicism but already contains truths which Catholicism confirms and validates even in the process of converting it. She is one of the great writers of the Seventeenth Century and especially interesting in relation to contemporary multicultural identities and cultural interactions.

Ehhh..........2001-03-19

I found Sor Juana dull the first time I read her 'Responce' and even more dull when I reread it. She is very good at being subtle though, and alot of the time its what shes not saying that makes you think, I don't know if it was the translators fault, or what, but I just didn't enjoy it. But her poetry was beautifully translated in this edition.

A superb introduction to a great mind.......2000-11-01

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz is one of those remarkable literary figures whose extraordinary body of work forces one to either reevaluate or refine one's ideas about the complex interrelationships between religion, gender, national identity, and ethnicity. A nun who lived in seventeenth century Mexico, she distinguished herself as a poet, playwright, and prose writer.

"Poems, Protest, and a Dream" is an excellent introduction to the life and work of this fascinating woman. This selection of her works includes her famous prose piece addressed to "Sor Filotea de la Cruz," a hearty helping of her poetry, and two selections from her dramatic corpus. The bilingual format of the text, with Sor Juana's Spanish original on each even-numbered page and Margaret Sayers Peden's elegant English translation on each odd-numbered page, allows one to easily compare the two versions.

The distinguished scholar Ilan Stavans has written an extensive 32 page introduction. Stavans describes in detail the historical and cultural context from which Sor Juana wrote; his sensitive and intelligent portrait of the woman and her age made me appreciate and enjoy her writings even more.

Sor Juana takes on themes that are still relevant (and often hotly debated) more than three centuries after she wrote these works. The response to Sor Filotea is a defense of female intellectual aspiration in a male-dominated culture; in the defense Sor Juana critically responds to those who use the Judeo-Christian Bible as a tool for intimidating and marginalizing women. With certain factions of the "religious right" still using the Bible as a weapon for demonizing certain individuals and social agendas, Sor Juana's words continue to ring fresh and clear.

Equally extraordinary is Sor Juana's loa (a dramatic scene which prefaces a longer play) to "The Divine Narcissus." The loa is an allegory depicting the early contact between Christianity and the religion of the Aztecs; in this piece I detect a subtle satirical thrust which adds to the complexity of Sor Juana's vision.

Sor Juana was a masterful stylist in multiple literary genres, and her depth of psychological and moral insight adds to her stature as a literary giant. Nobody should consider herself or himself literate in the fields of women's studies or Latin American studies without having read the works of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. "Poems, Protest, and a Dream" is an excellent resource for both independent reading and classroom use. Enjoy Sor Juana's artistry, and reflect on her ideas.

Female Intellectualism.......2000-07-28

A great intellectual is not commonly thought of to be a woman, especially in 17th century New Spain. In the midst of the highly structured Baroque literary period, an illegitimate child was baptized as Juana Ramírez de Asbaje, spent her adolescence at court, and left to become a nun where she could continue her studies in peace, rather than marrying. Although she was almost entirely self-educated, the word quickly spread of her intelligence. This caused envy and animosity towards her that she tried to avoid her entire adult life. Four years before she died, the church forced her to give up her writings and worldly studies. In her letter of response to this request, (included in the book) she became the first woman in Latin America to defend her gender's right to study and write as men could. Much of her work was commissioned, but more is being discovered of her autobiographical writings. This book includes one of the few known poems (Primero Sueño) that was not commissioned. The book is in Spanish and English on opposing pages. This is very advantageous if you are bilingual, and even if you aren't, I can't say enough about Margaret Sayers Peden's translations. Not only does she give you as close to word for word; she also preserves the original structure, themes, and rhyme schemes that are so essential in Baroque literature. Even if you go no further than this book, you will not be disappointed. It has a very complete collection of her most famous works. Unfortunately, so few people in the English-speaking U.S. has even heard of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. I was first introduced to her wonderful poetry in a Mexican History / English dyad in college. Since that first poem I read, I have been searching for books of her works, and about her life. I highly recommend the addiction.

The Selected Poetry Of Yehuda Amichai, Newly Revised and Expanded edition (Literature of the Middle East)

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Amichai's beautiful map
The most popular poet of Israel
A great collection of a great poet's work
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant
Lovely and shimmering poems

The Selected Poetry Of Yehuda Amichai, Newly Revised and Expanded edition (Literature of the Middle East)
Yehuda Amichai
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520205383

Book Description

Yehuda Amichai is Israel's most popular poet as well as a literary figure of international reputation. In this revised and expanded collection, renowned translators Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell have selected Amichai's most beloved and enduring poems, including forty new poems from his recent work.
from Tourists:Once I was sitting on the steps near the gate at David's Citadel and I put down my two heavy baskets beside me. A group of tourists stood there around their guide, and I became their point of reference. "You see that man over there with the baskets? A little to the right of his head there's an arch from the Roman period. A little to the right of his head." "But he's moving, he's moving!" I said to myself: Redemption will come only when they are told, "Do you see that arch over there from the Roman period? It doesn't matter, but near it, a little to the left and then down a bit, there's a man who has just bought fruit and vegetables for his family."

Customer Reviews:

Amichai's beautiful map.......2006-07-22

To read Yehuda Amichai in English is to sojourn, yes, in Jerusalem, more, in Amichai's denuded heart -- but to see it all with a crick in my neck, able only to look out the left-hand side of the bus. In this translation of his Selected Poetry, the scenes pass: stone and sand architecture; crowds of workers, soldiers, family members; heaped goods and quiet meals; long loves and fleeting notice. Reading these poems is to sustain explosions of new sense memories, to be consumed with fresh details -- reading the poems in English is to know they harbor still more beauty. Not knowing Hebrew, I can't turn my head to see what incomparable, heartbreaking balance of truth and wish lies out that window.

Amichai's voice is calm, colloquial, casual. The way one might say, "Pardon me, you've dropped your pen," Amichai will say, "And in the big cities, protestors blocked the roads like / a blocked heart, whose master will die..."

So I wonder what I'm not hearing. How must one who makes easy fantastical connections, who sets single nouns and entire memory constructs equal, also play with homonym, rhythm, internal rhyme, with invented words, cousins of ancient words? This is, after all, Amichai--a poet credited with revivification, with re-knitting the bones of Hebrew vernacular. His poetry gave a country a new map into its old language.

Here's Amichai: "At the end of summer I breathe this air / that is burnt and pained. My thoughts have / the stillness of many closed books: / many crowded books, with most of their pages / stuck together like eyelids in the morning."

And Amichai, to a woman: "You had a laughter of grapes: / many round green laughs. / Your body is full of lizards. / All of them love the sun."

In these poems, the acts of watching and describing become one intention, one result. Amichai systematizes little, responds much; sees, and does not sneer; judges, not to dispose but to know. His poems are not slices of life, but core samples.

If you want to learn something about how to love a city and yet not pretend its horrors do not exist, how to cherish a person, yet not omit flawed relationship, read Yehuda Amichai. If you want to read not a declaration of love, but a proof of love, read Amichai. For to observe without flinching, whatever terrors of truth or beauty may appear, and remain steadfast, observing, is a proof of love. "I see everything about you," Amichai says to the city, the seasons, the soldiers, his woman, his father, his God, "and here I am still."

Amichai is not frightened away. He thereby makes it safe for us to look on a terrible world complete.

I suspect that in Hebrew, the one difficulty of these poems would dissipate. In weight, in flavor, the poems are like a rare, nutritive honey -- not a condiment but a dietary staple, heavy, dependable. I suspect that in Hebrew the tone dances, that the phrases don't share a single, though delicious, viscosity, as in English. But who am I to complain of manna?

What survives translation is not the full tour, not a map to Hebrew vernacular. What survives is a map through Amichai. We can navigate by these lines and points, read the poems like the knots of a safety rope -- here -- we descend into the technical truths of war, of loss, and of heretofore unimaginable love.

The most popular poet of Israel .......2005-05-08

Amichai is the most popular and beloved poet of Israel. His language is at once understandable , and clear, deep and suggestive. He learned from American poetry the colloquial voice and he speaks to his reader in a kind of down-to- earth language which is nonetheless rich with knowledge of Hebrew traditional texts, most prominently the Bible. Amichai writes of the great themes , love and war, and he writes out of his own experience. He writes with reverence and irony both in relation to the people close to him and to the land of Israel. His connection with Jerusalem is special and he presents the many layers of its complex history and identity through his own personal daily meanderings in the city.
He is a humane and profound poetry who while confronting the most painful realities nonetheless presents a voice strongly affirming the value of life.

A great collection of a great poet's work.......2004-07-17

I was first introduced to Amichai's poetry through this collection. He is a first-rate poet in any language; the translations by Chana Block and Stephen Mitchell are wonderful.

Amichai was born in Germany in 1924, but immigrated to Israel as a boy of 12; he began writing poetry early, especially in the exuberant atmosphere of the newly proclaimed Israel in 1948. Amichai continued to write poetry throughout the twentieth century (he died in 2000), winning national and international prizes and recognition as one of the greatest poets of the age, not only of Hebrew, but internationally. As modern Hebrew is a language still emerging from the shadows of its ancient-but-still-used predecessor, Amichai was a major figure in developing the poetic nuances of the language that helped to expand the limits of meaning in words and usage.

Amichai's poetry represented here spans most of his productive life. The first part includes poems from his collections from 1955 to 1968, from the birth of the state of Israel to the aftermath of the 1967 war. One poem, 'Jerusalem 1967', is a long and majestic play on emotions and images -- Jerusalem here is likened to Sodom and Pompeii, as well as revered as the universal city that it is; Amichai's personal experience floods the historical events he witnessed with emotion that conjures up ancient memories.

The second part includes poems from writings 1971 to 1985. The maturity of Amichai's passions and writing style match the development of world affairs, into a post-war situation, with tentative amblings toward peace. Still there are tragedies and problems, and these make appearances in Amichai's poems. The weariness of the modern world is highlighted in his poem, 'Jerusalem is full of used Jews' -- worn out by history, Amichai wrote. Still there are hopeful signs, as love in its many faces is always the centre of Amichai's world. Amichai is a patriot of sorts, in that he celebrates the place and culture of Israel, but is not blind to the problems there, and by no means a 'death to the enemy' kind of writer -- a bit ironic, given that his poetry is popular among the soldier-citizenry of Israel.

Some poems have decided biblical and religious connections, even if they are not religious in tone or direct meaning. 'Jacob and the Angel' obviously takes its title from the early story in Genesis, but beyond that, the context and content is very different. Some show the international character of modern Israeli experience. Many poems, while decidedly Amichai, could have been written anywhere, and the situations and feelings of love are universal.

Stunning poetry!

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.......2004-01-22

I recently bought this on a whim at the book store and was pleased at it turning out to be one of my best purchases. Instantly one of my favorites, Amichai writes with the perfect mixture of narrative and metaphor, balancing his poetry perfectly on the line between clarity and obscurity. His metaphors are original, concise, and leave you thinking. At the same time, Amichai's poetry is not inaccesible. His writing is simple enough to grasp the first time through, but also complex enough for you to peel away the layers of meaning as you read again and again.

While some of the poetry is political or cultural in nature (Amichai is an Israeli and Jew), don't let that discourage you from thinking it doesn't have any application to your life. Like Chaim Potok, Amichai breathes a life into his words that enlightens you toward life's simplicities, regardless of your background. Top notch stuff.

Lovely and shimmering poems.......2004-01-12

I have other translations of Amichai's poetry but love this book, translated by Chana Bloch and Stephen Mitchell, the best.

Selected Letters of Charles Baudelaire: The Conquest of Solitude

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Selected Letters of Charles Baudelaire: The Conquest of Solitude
Charles Baudelaire
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0226039285

Book Description

Undeniably one of the modern world's greatest literary figures, Charles Baudelaire (1821-67) left behind a correspondence documenting in intimate detail a life as intense in its extremes as his poetry. This extensive selection of his letters—many translated for the first time into English—depicts a poet divided between despair and elation, thoughts of suicide and intimations of immortality; a man who could write to his mother, "We're obviously destined to love one another, to end our lives as honestly and gently as possible," and say in the next sentence, "I'm convinced that one of us will kill the other"; who courted and then suffered the controversy provoked by his masterpiece, Les Fleurs du mal; who struggled throughout his life with syphilis contracted in his youth, near-intolerable financial restrictions imposed by his stepfather, and conflicting feelings of failure and revolt dating from his school days. Writing to family, friends, and lovers, Baudelaire reveals the incidents and passions that went into his poetry. In letters to editors, idols, and peers—Hugo, Flaubert, Vigny, Wagner, Cladel, among others—he elucidates the methods and concerns of his own art and criticism and comments tellingly on the arts and politics of his day. In all, ranging from childhood to days shortly before his death, these letters comprise a complex and moving portrait of the quintessential poet and his time.

Selected Poems (Goethe: The Collected Works, Vol. 1)

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A wonderful edition

Selected Poems (Goethe: The Collected Works, Vol. 1)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Faust I & II (Goethe : The Collected Works, Vol 2)
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ASIN: 0691036586

Book Description

This new series brings into modern English a reliable translation of a representative portion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's vast body of work. This edition, selected from over 140 volumes in German, is the new standard in English, and contains poetry, drama, fiction, memoir, criticism, and scientific writing by the man who is probably the most influential writer in the German language. The executive editors of this collection are Victor Lange of Princeton University, Eric Blackall of Cornell University, and Cyrus Hamlin of Yale University.

Princeton University Press is proud to be the distributor of the twelve volumes in hardcover of the originating publisher, Suhrkamp Verlag. In addition, Princeton will issue paperback reprints of these volumes over the next two years, beginning with volumes one through three.

Goethe, the founder of the poetry of experience, created a body of poetry that is unsurpassed in lucidity of speech and imagery and in instinct for melody and rhythm. Nonetheless, many of his poems are relatively unknown to English-speaking audiences, partly because of the difficulties they have posed to translators. This volume contains translations, side by side with the German originals, of Goethe's major poems--all prepared by eminent American and English writers, and all attesting to his poetic genius.

Goethe's most complex and profound work, Faust was the effort of the great poet's entire lifetime. Written over 60 years, it can be read as a document of Goethe's moral and artistic development. Faust is made available to the English reader in a completely new translation that communicates both its poetic variety and its many levels of tone. The language is present-day English, and Goethe's formal and rhythmic variety is reproduced in all its richness.

The reflections on art and literature that Goethe produced throughout his life are the premise and corollary of his work as poet, novelist, and man of science. This volume contains such important essays as "On Gothic Architecture," "On the Laocoon Group," and "Shakespeare: A Tribute." Several works in this collection appear for the first time unabridged and in fresh translations.

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A wonderful edition.......2000-02-20

Solid translations and, like all the volumes in Princeton's 12-volume Goethe series, the book is attractive with great typography. Much easier on the eyes than the Penguin editions.

This volume is a very accessible way to read Goethe for the first time, as well as revealing a new layer of depth for those who are more familiar with his essays and scientific studies.

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