Spectacle & Pigsty

by Kiwao Nomura, Kyoko Yoshida (Translator), Forrest Gander (Translator)

As stunningly original to a contemporary American audience as haiku was to the late Victorians, this collection of Japanese poetry makes unpredictable leaps of association to explore themes such as sex, loss, and memory. The poems appear in English on one page and in Japanese characters on the facing page, providing readers with a glimpse into Japanese language and culture. Full of raw energy, these pieces have a visionary quality that likens them to a literary performance, exuding an air of enchantment as well as an astute sense of the human condition.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2011

About the author

Kiwao Nomura (野村 喜和夫) was born in 1951 in Saitama Prefecture. He graduated from Waseda University, majoring in Japanese literature. A leading writer of the post-war generation, he is in the forefront of contemporary poetry. At the same time, he is known to be a prolific critic, translator, and essayist on comparative poetics. His work has been translated into many languages and published in magazines abroad, especially in France and the United States. He has performed internationally and released two CDs of collaborations with musicians. He played a leading role in Contemporary Poetry Festival 95, Poetry Goes Out and Contemporary Poetry Festival 97, Dance and Posie. In 2007, he organized The Festival of International Poetry: Toward the Pacific Rim. From August to November 2005, he was a fellow at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in the United States. In December of the same year, he served as a director of the Japan-European Contemporary Poetry Festival in Tokyo."

Reviews

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting work with some particularly unique and surprising mechanisms.