Contemporary East European Poetry

The largest anthology of its kind, Contemporary East European Poetry features 130 poets from ten countries and translated from fifteen languages, including Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, German, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, and Yiddish. Focusing on poetry from the 1960s and 1970s, poets both old and young, living and recently deceased, from many walks of life, both at home and in exile, contrasting religious and political persuasions, and practices ranging from traditional to the most up-to-date experimental modes, combine to form a disturbing though accurate profile of the twentieth century. Preference is given to the genuinely lyrical poems - to work that stresses the word and the poet's tools and craftmanship. This anthology gives the English speaking community a long overdue opportunity to experience the poetic art of East Europe that until now has been restricted due to the barriers of politics and language. The works have been expertly translated by 90 translators, at times in collaboration with the poet.
Included, moreover, are introductions to each particular countries poetry, as well as a short biography of each poet.