Life Sentence: Selected Poems

by Nina Cassian

The deeply affecting, magical poems of `Life Sentence' come to us through vivid translations made by twenty poets, including such distinguished British and American poets as Fleur Adcock, Dana Gioia, Carolyn Kizer, William Jay Smith and Richard Wilbur. Nina Cassian had been a leading literary figure in Romania for more than 40 years when, during a visit to New York in 1985, her satires of the Ceausescu regime were discovered copied into a friend's diary. The friend was tortured to death, while Cassian's house was ransacked by the authorities and her publications banned.

Genres: Poetry, Romania

Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Nina Cassian (pen name of Renée Annie Cassian-Mătăsaru) was a Romanian poet, children's book writer, translator, journalist, accomplished pianist and composer, and film critic. She spent the first sixty years of her life in Romania until she moved to the United States in 1985 for a teaching job. A few years later Cassian was granted permanent asylum and New York City became her home for the rest of her life. Much of her work was published both in Romanian and in English.

Reviews

[Miss Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

خشکه‌مقدس‌ها
سرزنش می‌کنند مرا
برای یک‌نفس درنوردیدن خوان زندگی
با تمام محتویات آن
و برای داشتن اشتیاق و عطش
به تمامی چیزها.
آن‌ها ملامت می‌کنند مرا
برای برپایی ضیافت
به بهانه‌ی هر اندوه، هر لذت
در کنار هم،
با کوزه‌هایی از خامه‌ی ترش
و شوربای ذرت داغ و گرم.
آن‌ها اعتراض می‌کنند
به زدن سنجاق یقه
و گذاشتن گل میخک
در موهایم،
به گاه پسر بودن
گاه دختر بودن
و گاه،
که می‌داند،
چه چیز دیگری بودنم.
آن‌ها نکوهش می‌کنند مرا
برای پخش نکردن عشق
مطابق نقشه،
برای سهم نبخشیدن از آن
به دیگران،
برای داشتن دستان چالاک سفالگر
و برای گاه‌گاه حل کردن معادلات.
خب،
این است راه من.
می‌شتابم در سراسر جهان
همچون هیاهویی زنده و پویا
و سر باز می‌زنم
از گام‌های آهسته
از خزیدن
یا از مقروض ماندن
برای یک بوسه.

[Mind the Book · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oj, hur ofta bär man med sig rumänsk poesi i en hel vecka, i bokstavlig mening, alltså. Det började med att jag såg en tolkning av den här dikten:

Please Give This Seat To An Elderly or Disabled Person

I stood during the entire journey:
nobody offered me a seat
although I was at least a hundred years older than anyone else on board,
although the signs of at least three major afflictions
were visible on me:
Pride, Loneliness, and Art.

Utifrån vetskapen om att hon vid den här tiden just kommit till New York för att gästundervisa i kreativt skrivande, men plötsligt fann sig i obönhörlig exil; alla tillhörigheter och all produktion förstörda av regimen i Rumänien, då blir den väldigt stark.

Kastade mig på eBay och hittade den här 90-talssamlingen. Cassian läser dikten i Desert Island Discs från -99: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009... där hon låter så levande, slagfärdig och fantastisk. Alla expats och eller rastlösa känner igen sig i I Wanted to Stay in September.

[Selaserviette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewing here because the actual two volumes I read aren't on here. Really stunning, and makes me want to learn Romanian; the fact that she oversees her translations at least in these volumes makes sense, because the use of language is stunning even in translation. I just repeated the word stunning within a single sentence. Isn't it ridiculous that absolute morons still get to review good books on the internet?

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m very glad I read this. This collection caused me to think, to feel, to laugh out loud at times. This poet is brief and thorough. She casts her net wide and collects everything that comes through. Thse poems are translated by a wide variety of translators. It’s great.

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since you walked out on me
I'm getting lovelier by the hour.
I glow like a corpse in the dark.
No one sees how round and sharp
my eyes have grown
how my carcass looks like a glass urn,
how I hold up things in the rags of my hands,
the way I can stand though crippled by lust.
No, there's just your cruelty circling
my head like a bright rotting halo.

[Scottie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I had read "Take My Word For It" and ran right out and picked this one up. I was not disappointed. Nina writes poetry that makes me want to go to the next poem and the next and the next.

[Mills College Library]

859.1 C345s 1990