Oppressive Light: Selected Poems by Robert Walser - Softcover

Walser, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936873184 ISBN 13: 9781936873180

Publisher: Black Lawrence Press, 2012

Synopsis

Poetry. Translated from the German by Daniele Pantano. Introduction by Carolyn Forché. OPPRESSIVE LIGHT represents the first collection of Robert Walser's poetry in English translation and an opportunity to experience Walser as he saw himself at the beginning and at the end of his literary career—as a poet. The collection also includes notes on dates of composition, draft versions the printed poems represent, which volume of the Werkausgabe the poems were first published in, and brief biographical information on characters and locations that appear in the poems and may not be known to readers.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

These poems show the quality we have now come to call visionary. This is a voice that sees itself as if from another planet, with clarity, and impartiality of view that is remarkable and, often, devastating. One is reminded of Trakl's voice here, its dark intimacy; this is the lullaby for the self, but also for this self's moment in time ("there is so much in the hour") as we know it: a spare voice points at the two trees in the snow, at a trembling of a lip. And, yet, here, so unlike Trakl's voice, we hear: "The room is full of sky . . . I speak and I laugh:/ my room is the sky./ How I love the sky" and "happiness is the happiness of evening." From this transformation, wisdom comes: "something you enshrine will always be with you." Finally, among many fine poems here, I particularly found myself struck by such pieces as "Joy of Life" and "The Comfort of Complaining," where one of the most complex minds of the 20th Century gives us lines of utter simplicity, poise.
 
-- Ilya Kaminsky, author of Dancing in Odessa and editor of The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry

About the Author:

Born 1878 in Switzerland, Robert Walser was at various times in his life a bank teller, office clerk, scribe, house servant, machinist's assistant, and archivist. Although he wrote four novels and some poetry, his production consisted mainly of hundreds of small prose pieces. Being small was a key concern. His writing got smaller and smaller until, before he ceased writing altogether, he wrote a tiny script with letters about one millimeter high. By this time he had committed himself to a sanitarium where he remained for 27 years, mostly not writing. Always an avid taker of walks, Walser died in a snowdrift while out for a walk in 1956.

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Lawrence Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1936873184
• ISBN 13: 9781936873180
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200