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A Ballad for Metka Krasovec Paperback – April 2, 2001

by Tomaz Salamun (Author), Michael Biggins (Author, Translator)

5.0 3 ratings

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Poetry. Tomaz Salamun is perhaps the most popular and prolific poet in Central Europe today. Thanks to the translation of his work he has also been widely acclaimed abroad. To date he has had four collections of selected poetry published in English. A BALLAD FOR METKA KRASOVEC, originally published in the 1980s by Harcourt, at the mid-point of Salamun's career, is considered by the author to be one of his finest works. The volume is characterized by often striking imagery and sexual turmoil. It is the first complete single volume of his to appear in English translation. The translator is Michael Biggins, who is a Slavic and East European Studies librarian at the University of Washington Libraries in Seattle. SPD also carries Salamun's FOUR QUESTIONS OF MELANCHOLY (White Pine).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Let various Marxists and the herd still/ shuffling outside my door gnash their/ teeth, but I'm living/ now. All I/ do is slightly/ rearrange the struggle for the seed flowing/ in the universe." Originally published in his native Slovenian in 1981and just in time for May Day nowthis heartbreakingly wry set of verse letters from the poet to his wife, Metka Krasovec, and their circle finds the poet globetrotting from behind the iron curtain, an "awesome salesman from the least./ (I meant to write from the east/ but mistyped.)." In over 100 short missivessome written at Yaddothe poet elegizes Mayakovsky (dead at 37, the poet's age) and Mandelstam; wonders "Are you eating enough meat?"; and decides, with a smile, "I'd like to die with a red cap on my head." Psychic complexities ("suffering joins fear and disgust") and sexual longings complicate his travels further. All four of the other Salamun collections available in the U.S. are selections from among his 30 or so books; this midcareer volume is the first to be translated and published in toto. Aside from being wonderful poetrythe translations by University of Washington Slavic and East European studies librarian Michael Biggins have tremendous energy and easethe book gives immediate and fascinating insight (and hindsight) into the paradoxes of the cold war writer's life in the East: "I'm here./ My hands shine./ America is my fate." (May 1)Forecast: Based in Prague, 10-year publishing veteran Twisted Spoon (www.twistedspoon.com) maintains a series of English-language expatriate writers; another of Czech-based "Bohemicus" writers; a beautifully produced Kafka series; and "Contemporary Writing from Central Europe"of which this lovely paper-with-flaps edition is part. Salamun already has a large following in the U.S.; this book need only reach his readers for it to become their favorite.

Review

"... some of the most amazing poems I have read in a long time." -- The Bloomsbury Review, September/October 2001

... wonderful poetry - the translations by Michael Biggins have tremendous energy and ease. -- Publishers Weekly, April 23, 2001, starred review

Like Dostoevsky, for whom consciousness was disease and salvation, Salamun celebrates art as both punishment and transcendence. -- Michele Levy, World Literature Today, summer/autumn 2001

Quiet yet also strangely exuberant, Salamun's lyrics are invigorated with the dissonance of outburst and metaphysical reflection ... -- Ethan Paquin, The Boston Book Review, February/March 2002

Salamun s poetry is not so much a response to particular experiences, ... but is experience itself. -- Kevin Hart, Verse, v. 18, #2 & 3

Salamun¹s tradition has been the disruptive, visionary side of European experimental art... -- Robert Hass

The most celebrated Slovenian poet of his generation ... -- The Boston Review of Books

Tomaz Salamun is one of the most influential voices now speaking to younger American poets." -- Christopher Merrill