Heavenly Life: Selected Poems

by Ramsey Nasr, David Colmer (Translator)

The poems in Heavenly Life were selected by the poet from his collections and from works written as poet laureate. His translator is the award-winning David Colmer, joint-winner of the 2010 IMPAC prize, who has dynamically recreated in English the patterns and sounds of Ramsey's inventive, bold and thoughtful poems.
The collection includes the poem which voted Nasr into his Poet Laureate post in the Neteherlands in 2009 in the Netherlands the laureate is chosen by popular vote. Another is a three-part poem inspired by the life of Dmitri Shostakovich and based on his Sonata for Viola and Piano. The title poem Heavenly Life, meanwhile, was written to commemorate the 150h anniversary of Gustav Mahler s birth and is based on his Fourth Symphony, the four sections of the poem echoing the structure, tone and length of its movements. It is named after Das himmlische Leben , the song that forms the symphony s finale
With an introduction by Victor Schiferli and foreword by Ruth Padel.

180 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Ramsey Nasr is an actor, poet/writer and director. In 1995 he made a great impression with the monologue De doorspeler, written and performed by himself, with which he graduated from the Studio Herman Teirlinck in Antwerp. This monologue earned him the Philip Morris Scholarship Award. In 2000 he made his debut as a poet with the collection 27 poems & Geen lied, which was nominated for both the C. Buddingh’ prize and the H.C. Pernath Prize. During the 2001 Boekenweek, he made his debut as a prose writer with the novella Kapitein Zeiksnor & De Twee Culturen. He also received the Mary Dresselhuys Prize and the Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs for his second monologue Geen lied and was nominated for the Louis d'Or, the most important theater prize in the Netherlands. He gave the Vincent van Gogh lecture 2000, entitled The Myth and Orpheus: from shaman to scientist.

Reviews

[alina stormblessed ✾ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this man knows what he is doing

[Philip Coulter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it quite hit and miss. Some poems (like the set on Shostakovich) just didn't connect for me - probably my fault rather than his. Others, particularly the ones as Laureate were very good.