Revelation Freshly Erupting
Collected Poetry
Published on 28. September 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
560 pages
978-1-78410-598-3 (ISBN)
Description
Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 2024
Winner of the Schlegel-Tieck Prize 2024
The
Jewish poet Nelly Sachs (1891-1970) writes in direct response to the
Holocaust. She is uniquely a 'prophetic' poet, one of the greatest of
that species in the twentieth century.
Her first book appeared in
the immediate wake of the Second World War, in 1946. Since that time,
Hans Magnus Enzensberger declared, 'she has been writing fundamentally a
single book'. That book is represented in this volume which reveals her
whole progression rendered into English. Unlike earlier translators,
Andrew Shanks calls his versions 'translations/imitations', moving away
from the doggedly literal to render more faithfully the sense and
intention of the originals.
Sachs escaped Berlin in May 1940. She
found refuge in Sweden. Her major work is an evolving response to the
trauma of the Holocaust. In 1966 she received the Nobel Prize for
Literature. This book includes all the lyric poetry Sachs published in
her lifetime and adds the posthumous collection Teile dich Nacht, an introductory essay, and notes.
Her
poetry begins as a monumental lament for the victims of the Holocaust.
Other themes develop: biblical, Kabbalist and religious allusions,
personal bereavement, mental breakdown. And there are reflections on
poetic vocation in the darkness of recent history.
Winner of the Schlegel-Tieck Prize 2024
The
Jewish poet Nelly Sachs (1891-1970) writes in direct response to the
Holocaust. She is uniquely a 'prophetic' poet, one of the greatest of
that species in the twentieth century.
Her first book appeared in
the immediate wake of the Second World War, in 1946. Since that time,
Hans Magnus Enzensberger declared, 'she has been writing fundamentally a
single book'. That book is represented in this volume which reveals her
whole progression rendered into English. Unlike earlier translators,
Andrew Shanks calls his versions 'translations/imitations', moving away
from the doggedly literal to render more faithfully the sense and
intention of the originals.
Sachs escaped Berlin in May 1940. She
found refuge in Sweden. Her major work is an evolving response to the
trauma of the Holocaust. In 1966 she received the Nobel Prize for
Literature. This book includes all the lyric poetry Sachs published in
her lifetime and adds the posthumous collection Teile dich Nacht, an introductory essay, and notes.
Her
poetry begins as a monumental lament for the victims of the Holocaust.
Other themes develop: biblical, Kabbalist and religious allusions,
personal bereavement, mental breakdown. And there are reflections on
poetic vocation in the darkness of recent history.
Reviews / Votes
'It is a demanding, astonishing body of work, that bears witness to the trauma of the Holocaust and its aftermath, as well as to the resilience of the spirit infused with a personalised Judaeo-Christian theology.'The Tablet 'Andrew Shanks' translation comes with a thoughtful introduction and illuminating notes on the poems... Shanks' enthusiasm for Sachs' genius shines through his superb effort to render these poems in English clearly, without affectation.... Coming to terms with Revelation Freshly Erupting is not the work of a day, but reading right through in a few sessions repays us with the unfolding of one woman's "dark night of the soul". Sachs holds nothing back'
Dilys Wood, Artemis Poetry 'Shocking, disturbing and profound, an important document of witness.'
Rupert Loydell, International Times
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Carcanet Press Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 42 mm
Weight
682 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78410-598-3 (9781784105983)
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
09/2023
Carcanet Classics
€28.80
Available for download
Persons
Nelly Sachs, poet and playwright, was born in Berlin in 1891. Her first poems were published in 1929. In 1940 she and her mother fled to Sweden, where she was granted nationality in 1952. Her correspondence with Paul Celan began in 1954. In 1966 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She died in 1970.; Andrew Shanks is a now retired Church of England priest; for ten years Canon Theologian at Manchester Cathedral. He has published numerous works of philosophical theology; including for instance '"What Is Truth?" Towards a Theological Poetics' (2001), and most recently 'Sublime Virtue: "Sainthood", as Rendered Problematic by a Dozen Novelists' (2023). Having first discovered the poetry of Nelly Sachs forty years ago, in a bookshop in Marburg, he has been steadily at work on his translations/imitations pretty much ever since.