After Every War
Twentieth-Century Women Poets
Princeton University Press
Published on 24. October 2004
Book
Hardback
168 pages
978-0-691-11745-4 (ISBN)
Description
They are nine women with much in common - all German speaking, all poets, all personal witnesses to the horror and devastation that was World War II. Yet, in this deeply moving collection, each provides a singularly personal glimpse into the effects of war on language, place, poetry, and womanhood. "After Every War" is a book of translations of women poets living in Europe in the decades before and after World War II: Rose Auslander, Elizabeth Langgasser, Nelly Sachs, Gertrud Kolmar, Else Lasker-Schuler, Ingeborg Bachmann, Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Dagmar Nick, and Hilde Domin. Several of the writers are Jewish and, therefore, also witnesses and participants in one of the darkest occasions of human cruelty, the Holocaust. Their poems, as well as those of the other writers, provide a unique biography of the time - but with a difference. These poets see public events through the lens of deep private losses. They chart the small occasions, the bittersweet family ties, the fruit dish on a table, the lost soul arriving at a railway station; in other words, the sheer ordinariness through which cataclysm is experienced, and by which life is cruelly shattered.
They reclaim these moments and draw the reader into them. The poems are translated and introduced, with biographical notes on the authors, by renowned Irish poet Eavan Boland. Her interest in the topic is not abstract. As an Irish woman, she has observed the heartbreaking effects of violence on her own country. Her experience has drawn her closer to these nine poets, enabling her to render into English the beautiful, ruminative quality of their work and to present their poems for what they are: documentaries of resilience - of language, of music and of the human spirit - in the hardest of times.
They reclaim these moments and draw the reader into them. The poems are translated and introduced, with biographical notes on the authors, by renowned Irish poet Eavan Boland. Her interest in the topic is not abstract. As an Irish woman, she has observed the heartbreaking effects of violence on her own country. Her experience has drawn her closer to these nine poets, enabling her to render into English the beautiful, ruminative quality of their work and to present their poems for what they are: documentaries of resilience - of language, of music and of the human spirit - in the hardest of times.
Reviews / Votes
[A] moving and essential new book. These poets have a particular angle of witness that comes from powerlessness, from being vulnerable, injured, marginal, excluded. IA'm struck by the personal way these poets confront history, test and interrogate language, especially their mother tongue, question the efficacy of poetry, and repeatedly defend the importance of private feeling. -- Edward Hirsch Washington Post Book World I like this provocative book quite a lot: it is full of beautiful poems written under the worst historical conditions possible. It makes you think about the connection between lyric beauty (there's lots of it here) and testimony. -- Dan Chiasson PoetryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
9 Fotos bzw. Rasterbilder
9 halftones
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
369 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-11745-4 (9780691117454)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2013
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
from
€86.95
Available for download
Person
Eavan Boland is a poet and writer. Her most recent book is "Against Love Poetry".
Content
Introduction 1 ROSE AUSLaNDER (b. 1901) A Biographical Note 16 Mutterland / Motherland 18 Damit kein Licht uns liebe / So That No Light Would Be There to Love Us 20 Am Ende der Zeit / At the End of Time 22 Verwundert / Amazed 24 Die Fremden / Strangers 26 Meine Nachtigall / My Nightingale 28 Im Chagall-Dorf / In Chagall's Village 30 Biographische Notiz / Biographical Note 32 Mein Schlussel / My Key 34 ELISABETH LANGGaSSER (b. 1899) A Biographical Note 38 Fruhling 1946 / Spring 1946 40 NELLY SACHS (b. 1891) A Biographical Note 46 Wenn ich nur wusste / If I Only Knew 48 In der blauen Ferne / In the Blue Distance 50 Bereit sind alle Lander aufzustehn / All the Lands of the Earth 52 In der Flucht / In Flight 54 In diesem Amethyst / In This Amethyst 56 Kommt einer von ferne / If Someone Comes 58 GERTRUD KOLMAR (b. 1894) A Biographical Note 62 Das Opfer / The Victim 64 ELSE LASKERaSCHuLER (b. 1869) A Biographical Note 72 Mein blaues Klavier / My Blue Piano 74 Ich weis / I Know 76 Herbst / Autumn 78 Abends / In the Evening 80 Meine Mutter / My Mother 82 uber glitzernden Kies / Over Glistening Gravel 84 Ein einziger mensch / A Single Man 86 INGEBORG BACHMANN (b. 1926) A Biographical Note 90 Alle Tage / Every Day 92 Botschaft / Message 94 Die gestundete Zeit / Borrowed Time 96 Dunkles zu sagen / To Speak of Dark Things 98 Herbstmanover / Autumn Maneuver 100 Abschied von England / Departure from England 102 Fruher Mittag / Early Noon 104 Exil / Exile 108 Ihr Worte / You Words 110 MARIE LUISE KASCHNITZ (b. 1901) A Biographical Note 116 Hiroshima / Hiroshima 118 Selinunte / Selinunte 120 Nicht mutig / Not Brave 122 HILDE DOMIN (b. 1909) A Biographical Note 126 Koln / Cologne 128 Geburtstage / Birthdays 130 Exil / Exile 132 DAGMAR NICK (b. 1926) A Biographical Note 136 Flugwetter / Flying Weather 138 Aufruf / Summons 140 Den Generalen ins Soldbuch / In the Book of the Generals 142 Niemandsland / No-Man's-Land 144 An Abel / To Abel 146 Emigration / Emigration 148 Notes 151 Checklists 153 Further Reading 165 Index of Titles 167