State of Emergency: No. 20 (Visible Poets) - Softcover

Soleiman Adel Guemar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1904614396 ISBN 13: 9781904614395

Publisher: Arc Publications, 2007

Synopsis

Soleïman Adel Guémar was born and raised in Algiers where he worked as a journalist. He published numerous stories and won two national poetry prizes. In 2002 he left Algeria to seek safety for himself and his family in the UK. 'Sate of Emergency', a representative selection of Guémar's poetry,is rooted in Algerian experience, speaking of urgent concerns everywhere - oppression, resistance, state violence, traumas and private dreams. His poetry sings of life's sensual pleasures in the face of the grotesque morbidity of violent political repression. In the excellent translation by Tom Cheesman and John Goodby, Guémar's poems carry all their native force and brusque wit. In her introduction, Lisa Appignanesi writes: "Soleiman Adel Guemar is almost exactly as old as the independent Republic of Algeria. He has witnessed its terrible history, the crimes against humanity which attended its birth and the enduring 'state of emergency' under which life has been blighted ever since. This volume marks an important moment: a record from the inside of a history which is too palpably of our times... Where before we had only newspaper headlines, we now have a living voice, both political and lyrical - an intensely individual voice which speaks out freely and traces the lineaments of a tragic history."

About this title

Review:

Adel Guémar's poetry is unavoidably political. It can be as
brutally cruel as his country's experiences, but its mainspring is a
passionate belief in human rights and dignity. Horrors are offset by ironic
utopian fantasies and dark comedy. He often uses the regular metres and
forms of classical French verse, subverting them with metrical
dislocations, demotic language and the jargon of militias and torturers.
-TC-
-- MPT No.2, Series 3, Oxford, 2004

State of Emergency by Guémar, Soleïman Adel

Soleïman Adel Guémar's poetry is powerfully lucid, moving and sometimes
shocking. Rooted in Algerian experience, it speaks of urgent concerns
everywhere - oppression, resistance, state violence, traumas and private
dreams.

As Lisa Appignianesi writes in her introduction to this selection of
Guémar's poetry: "Deceptively casual, colloquial in their idiom, always
dramatic in their pessimism, Guémar's poems are a searing howl against the
brutality which invades everyday Algerian life.... This volume marks an
important moment: a record from the inside of a history which is too
palpably of our times. Where before we had only newspaper headlines or the
dry reports of NGOs, we now have a living voice, both political and lyrical
- an intensely individual voice which speaks out freely and traces the
lineaments of a tragic history." -- http://www.inpressbooks.co.uk/state_of_emergency_by_gumar_soleman_adel__i019194.aspx

From the Publisher:

Soleïman Adel Guémar's poetry sings of life's sensual
pleasures in the face of the grotesque morbidity of violent political
repression.

" His surly ironies have a fighter's edge, a tough beauty which ropes us
in. Britain has inadvertently inherited a political poet of stature, one
whose languages sings whether he is attacking the face of grim authority.
In the excellent transation by Tom Cheesman and John Goodby, Guémar's poems
carry all their native force and brusque wit." - Lisa Appignanesi-

About this edition

• Publisher: Arc Publications
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1904614396
• ISBN 13: 9781904614395
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 162