about time
selected poems
Will be published approx. on 25. March 2027
Book
Paperback/Softback
160 pages
978-1-78037-804-6 (ISBN)
Description
Gerrit Kouwenaar (1923-2014) was one of the most eminent and influential figures in recent Dutch poetry. His many collections, published from the 1940s till the 2000s, gained him the top literary prizes in the Low Countries. By his eighties, and still writing, he was widely acclaimed as the Netherlands' greatest living poet.
This selection, about time, introduces English-language readers to Gerrit Kouwenaar's poetry. It gives an overview of his poetic career, with an emphasis on the masterly work he wrote in later life. The versions by prizewinning translator Francis R. Jones aim to recreate Kouwenaar's unique style and voice.
Kouwenaar's early poems are experimental and playful. Some also allude to his harsh wartime experience, which taught him 'that words are empty husks unless they're filled with your own life and body, your own mortality'. Kouwenaar's poetry throughout his long career, in fact, combines the experimental and the personal, while playing with the feel, shape and sound of language.
As time went on, other themes also emerged. House, garden, and the countryside of southern France, his second home. Searching for lost time and fixing it with words. And finally, living with age and the loss of his wife Paula. Through it all shines Kouwenaar's poetic and personal mission, to
'speak
to the bread which is not yet deaf, make
language real behind its signs, spell
the flesh, still the time, live a little longer - '
This selection, about time, introduces English-language readers to Gerrit Kouwenaar's poetry. It gives an overview of his poetic career, with an emphasis on the masterly work he wrote in later life. The versions by prizewinning translator Francis R. Jones aim to recreate Kouwenaar's unique style and voice.
Kouwenaar's early poems are experimental and playful. Some also allude to his harsh wartime experience, which taught him 'that words are empty husks unless they're filled with your own life and body, your own mortality'. Kouwenaar's poetry throughout his long career, in fact, combines the experimental and the personal, while playing with the feel, shape and sound of language.
As time went on, other themes also emerged. House, garden, and the countryside of southern France, his second home. Searching for lost time and fixing it with words. And finally, living with age and the loss of his wife Paula. Through it all shines Kouwenaar's poetic and personal mission, to
'speak
to the bread which is not yet deaf, make
language real behind its signs, spell
the flesh, still the time, live a little longer - '
More details
Edition
Paperback original
Language
English
Place of publication
Tyne and Wear
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-78037-804-6 (9781780378046)
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
Persons
Gerrit Kouwenaar (1923-2014) was a towering figure in modern Dutch poetry. In the words of a 2009 prize jury, Kouwenaar 'has long been generally regarded as our greatest (living) poet'. His work spans six decades and 25 published collections of poetry. These gained him the Low Countries' top literary awards, and influenced generations of younger poets.
Kouwenaar was born and died in Amsterdam, though his second home in southern France forms a backdrop to many of his poems. He found his voice as one of the 'Fifties' group of poets and artists who sought to revive mid-century Dutch culture with a new experimentalism. A key motif throughout his work - the relationship between the word and the world - has its origins here. But over the decades, other themes came to dominate. Rootedness in house, garden and landscape. The sensual here-and-now of food, drink and friendship. And an ever more compelling exploration of time, transience and, ultimately, bereavement - against which he pits the poetic act and the fact of his own survival.
The power of Kouwenaar's poetic voice, however, lies in his mastery of language. Sounds and etymologies echo and glance off each other - rhyming and assonating, weaving in wordplay and ambiguity, and releasing the different layers of meaning in idioms.
Kouwenaar's poems have featured in many English-language anthologies and journals, and in a translation of his 2002 collection totally white room which is out of print. Francis R. Jones's edition, about time: selected poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2027), is the first book-length selection of this European master poet's work in English. Michele Hutchison's translation of his classic wartime coming-of-age debut novel, Fall, Bomb, Fall (1950) was published by Pushkin Press in 2025.
Kouwenaar was born and died in Amsterdam, though his second home in southern France forms a backdrop to many of his poems. He found his voice as one of the 'Fifties' group of poets and artists who sought to revive mid-century Dutch culture with a new experimentalism. A key motif throughout his work - the relationship between the word and the world - has its origins here. But over the decades, other themes came to dominate. Rootedness in house, garden and landscape. The sensual here-and-now of food, drink and friendship. And an ever more compelling exploration of time, transience and, ultimately, bereavement - against which he pits the poetic act and the fact of his own survival.
The power of Kouwenaar's poetic voice, however, lies in his mastery of language. Sounds and etymologies echo and glance off each other - rhyming and assonating, weaving in wordplay and ambiguity, and releasing the different layers of meaning in idioms.
Kouwenaar's poems have featured in many English-language anthologies and journals, and in a translation of his 2002 collection totally white room which is out of print. Francis R. Jones's edition, about time: selected poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2027), is the first book-length selection of this European master poet's work in English. Michele Hutchison's translation of his classic wartime coming-of-age debut novel, Fall, Bomb, Fall (1950) was published by Pushkin Press in 2025.