In the Wake of the Day
Published on 28. October 2010
85 pages
978-1-84777-917-5 (ISBN)
Description
In the Wake of the Day is a book of memories and journeys; from the chaotic energy of urban life in modern Istanbul, where John Ash lives, to the ruins of vanished civilisations; from personal incident to the narratives and vacancies of cultures. Ash inhabits the fertile and ambiguous territory where East and West meet. We 'know and do not know' the past. In an 'imperial city without empire, place of paradox', time too becomes fluid. The ancient, half-imagined past of Ur, Alexandria, Cappadocia coexists with a contemporary world in which 'tank tracks are driven over Babylon'.
At the centre of this collection are John Ash's versions of poems by the great Alexandrian C.P. Cavafy. Working with Cavafy's voice, Ash expresses his own urbane intelligence.
Cover photograph: Beyoglu Street, Istanbul (c) Dan Auger Cover design StephenRaw.com
At the centre of this collection are John Ash's versions of poems by the great Alexandrian C.P. Cavafy. Working with Cavafy's voice, Ash expresses his own urbane intelligence.
Cover photograph: Beyoglu Street, Istanbul (c) Dan Auger Cover design StephenRaw.com
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Carcanet Press Ltd
File size
0,41 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-84777-917-5 (9781847779175)
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
JOHN ASH was born in Manchester in 1948 and read English at the University of Birmingham. He lived for a year in Cyprus, and in Manchester between 1970 and 1985, before moving to New York. Since 1996 he has lived in Istanbul. His poetry has appeared in many publications including the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Village Voice, Oasis, PN Review and Paris Review. Two of his Carcanet collections, The Goodbyes (1982) and Disbelief (1987) were Poetry Book Society Choices. He has also written two books about Turkey, A Byzantine Journey and Turkey: The Other Guide.
Content
Contents
The Couple
Olives
Unasked For
Finding Prostanna
In Jean Dubuffet's Crimson Landscape
Babylon
Tristia
Near the Euphrates
Impossible
Poem: 'I never really wanted...'
Lines Written in a Hotel Room in Afyon
The Cut
Tramway
Partial Explanation
Practical Criticism
Difficult
The Towel of Alyattes
The Result
The Women of Kars (or Some Other Places I Know and
Do Not Know)
After Cavafy
Without Memorial
Fever of Kleitos
The Battle of Magnesia
Antiochus Epiphanes
The Gods in their Wisdom
In OEsroene
Disillusionment of Demetrius Soter
The Triumph of John Kantakouzenos
Exiles
A Byzantine Nobleman Writing in Exile
In a Syrian Harbour
The Bergamot Tree
Pinara
In the Wake of the Day
Finding Prostanna (2)
Two Poems with an Uncritical Apparatus
Stations
Prose for Ebubekir Akbulut
The Antiochiad
The Couple
Olives
Unasked For
Finding Prostanna
In Jean Dubuffet's Crimson Landscape
Babylon
Tristia
Near the Euphrates
Impossible
Poem: 'I never really wanted...'
Lines Written in a Hotel Room in Afyon
The Cut
Tramway
Partial Explanation
Practical Criticism
Difficult
The Towel of Alyattes
The Result
The Women of Kars (or Some Other Places I Know and
Do Not Know)
After Cavafy
Without Memorial
Fever of Kleitos
The Battle of Magnesia
Antiochus Epiphanes
The Gods in their Wisdom
In OEsroene
Disillusionment of Demetrius Soter
The Triumph of John Kantakouzenos
Exiles
A Byzantine Nobleman Writing in Exile
In a Syrian Harbour
The Bergamot Tree
Pinara
In the Wake of the Day
Finding Prostanna (2)
Two Poems with an Uncritical Apparatus
Stations
Prose for Ebubekir Akbulut
The Antiochiad
