Portraits
Published on 26. February 2015
Book
Paperback/Softback
60 pages
978-1-84777-215-2 (ISBN)
Description
Elaine Feinstein has always written most intensiy about people. In this book, she remembers friends she has loved, writers she has known and literary figures from the past. She writes of the Russian poet Bella Akhmadulina with tender admiration; the East End poet Emanuel Litvinoff, at work in his Bloomsbury flat; and Masha Enzensberger, who brought Feinstein into the world of Marina Tsvetaeva. As she imagines Raymond Chandler, Isaac Rosenberg or Billie Holiday her words about them say things about herself. In the closing poem, 'Death and the Lemon Tree', she finds a compelling image for the privilege of continuing to write into old age.
Reviews / Votes
This is a fascinating book, a real page-turner. These subtle, warm, multi-faceted studies of writers and friends remind us that Elaine Feinstein is our great poet-storyteller, as emotionally intelligent as she is observant. - Fiona Sampson Poems of great power and beauty from one of our finest poets...truly, a wonderful collection. - Brian Patten She has a sinewy, tenacious way of exploring her subject which seems to me unique. Her simple, clean language follows the track of the nerves. - Ted HughesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Manchester
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
91 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-84777-215-2 (9781847772152)
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
Person
Elaine Feinstein is a poet, novelist and biographer. She has received many prizes, and her books have been translated into most European languages, including Russian, as well as Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Her versions of the poems of Marina Tsvetaeva have remained in print since 1971. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and received a Civil List Pension in 2010.
Content
Acknowledgements 9PortraitsCourting Danger 13April Fools' Day 14Life Class: A Sketch 15Emanuel 17The Gamble 18Homesickness 20Dickens Considers Fagin 21The Irony of Wislava Szymborska 22Luftmensch 23Dizzy in Westminster 24A Charred Slipper 25Sleepless Nights 26Dreaming Raymond Chandler 27Marina's Ghost Visits Akhmatova 28A Yorkshireman in Provence 29Siegfried Sassoon and the Wish to Belong 30The Marriage of Thomas and Jane Carlyle 32Dr Who in Las Vegas 34The Generation of Gabriela Mistral 35Flair 36Down and Out 37A Young Wife Listens to Piaf 38Billie Holiday in Chalcot Gardens 39The Undercover Rider 40Burning Bright 41Old Muse 42Immortal in Kensal Rise 43Voice 44On Not Dying Young 45Self-Portrait in the Olympic Summer 46St Lucy's Day 47An Oxford Beauty 48A Video of Habima at the Globe (2012) 49Love 51My Polish Cleaner's Version 52Death and the Lemon TreeDeath and the Lemon Tree (1-4)