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Book of Exercises II
The first English translation of legendary Greek poet George Seferis’s lesser-known political, satiric, and erotic poetry as well as previously unseen material from his diaries.
Poet, diplomat, and literary critic George Seferis (1900–1971) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963. He is known to most readers as a myth-loving modernist. Book of Exercises II—a multi-genre volume, containing political, satiric, erotic, panegyric, and calligraphic poems drawn from the poet’s diaries between 1931 to 1971—opens up a hitherto unknown Seferis to English-language readers, offering a closer look at his creative process, opinions, and personal life.
Winner of the 2024 Elizabeth Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize from the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA).
Poet, diplomat, and literary critic George Seferis (1900–1971) won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1963. He is known to most readers as a myth-loving modernist. Book of Exercises II—a multi-genre volume, containing political, satiric, erotic, panegyric, and calligraphic poems drawn from the poet’s diaries between 1931 to 1971—opens up a hitherto unknown Seferis to English-language readers, offering a closer look at his creative process, opinions, and personal life.
Winner of the 2024 Elizabeth Constantinides Memorial Translation Prize from the Modern Greek Studies Association (MGSA).
- GenresPoetry
224 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2024
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About the author
George Seferis
130 books176 followersGeorge Seferis, pen name of Georgios Seferiadis,
Greek: Γιώργος Σεφέρης
Awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture."
First Greek to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos...
Greek: Γιώργος Σεφέρης
Awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture."
First Greek to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos...
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November 29, 2024When faced with the task of translating Homer’s Greek, the poet Ezra Pound was quick to bemoan certain frailties of the English language. Specifically, he lamented the lack of a first-class solution to the problem of reproducing what he called Homer’s “magnificent onomatopoeia.” Forget “boom” and “pow.” In the Iliad, when the sea does its thing and surges up the shore, it’s beneath sonically perfect words like poluphloisboio (loud-roaring) and thalasses (seas) that the pebbles rush and tumble.
Such problems have been plaguing translators for centuries and hounding every conceivable language barrier. But certain words struggle more than others to cover the distance. And certain kinds of writing make greater demands. Virtually by definition, it’s poets who present the greatest number of difficulties—questions of meter and rhyme will do that—which is probably why every time a poem does cross the bridge to another language, more or less unscathed (perhaps even improved in its own idiosyncratic way), an angel gets its wings.
Rest of my review at Open Letters: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/b...
Such problems have been plaguing translators for centuries and hounding every conceivable language barrier. But certain words struggle more than others to cover the distance. And certain kinds of writing make greater demands. Virtually by definition, it’s poets who present the greatest number of difficulties—questions of meter and rhyme will do that—which is probably why every time a poem does cross the bridge to another language, more or less unscathed (perhaps even improved in its own idiosyncratic way), an angel gets its wings.
Rest of my review at Open Letters: https://openlettersreview.com/posts/b...
Displaying 1 of 1 review