Birds and Other Relations

Fülszöveg

POETRY
Birds and Other Relations
SELECTED POETRY OF DEZSŐ TANDORI Translated by Bruce Berlind
Born in Budapest in 1938, Dezső Tandori is a novelist, playwright, translator, and graphic artist, as well as one of Hungary's most celebrated poets, ttere for the first time in English is a booklength selection of his work. Brilliantly eccentric, and characterized by an astonishing formal de.xterity, these poems address fundamental issues: the effort to establish personal identity in an impersonal world, the conflicting demands—private, social, and historical—that provide the te.xture of a lived moment, and the necessity of affirmation that finds its locus in the act of writing. Tandori manages these themes with an exuberance that mediates, as it enhances, their essential seriousness. The poems for this bilingual edition were chosen in consultation with the poet and are introduced by the translator.
(maybe!): st. severin-corner
In a dream, in the dust ofthe sidewalk-corner, I... Tovább

Fülszöveg

POETRY
Birds and Other Relations
SELECTED POETRY OF DEZSŐ TANDORI Translated by Bruce Berlind
Born in Budapest in 1938, Dezső Tandori is a novelist, playwright, translator, and graphic artist, as well as one of Hungary's most celebrated poets, ttere for the first time in English is a booklength selection of his work. Brilliantly eccentric, and characterized by an astonishing formal de.xterity, these poems address fundamental issues: the effort to establish personal identity in an impersonal world, the conflicting demands—private, social, and historical—that provide the te.xture of a lived moment, and the necessity of affirmation that finds its locus in the act of writing. Tandori manages these themes with an exuberance that mediates, as it enhances, their essential seriousness. The poems for this bilingual edition were chosen in consultation with the poet and are introduced by the translator.
(maybe!): st. severin-corner
In a dream, in the dust ofthe sidewalk-corner, I gathered w hole little sparrow s. I \\ as just stooping for the first one, not even looking up, w hen "this is the Latin Quarter!"
I cried, "it's got to be here, the river
can't be far off"; then I w ent on rummaging,
nearly on all fours, and nearly speaking
to one of them w ho it seemed had acquired a taste for
my palm! White dust covered
the corner of the sidew alk, a foot or two
aw ay w ere the rest of the humming-bird-
sized sparrows. So v\ hat's next? These
two lines will have to do,
from now on please open vour eves. Vissza