The Pallikari of Nesmine Rifat (Goose Lane Editions Poetry Books) - Softcover

David Solway

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0864924240 ISBN 13: 9780864924247

Publisher: Goose Lane Editions, 2005

Synopsis

In this sensuously defiant collection of new poems, the winner of the 2004 Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal expands and deepens a poetic ruse. In his critically acclaimed collections Saracen Island and Companion, David Solway took on the voice of a fictitious Greek poet named Andreas Karavis. The poems of these earlier two books were so artful and refreshingly immediate that many readers were convinced that they were authentic translations from the Greek. For The Pallikari of Nesmine Rifat, a new book of ostensible translations, Solway adopts the persona of Karavis's spurned lover, Turkish Cypriot poet Nesmine Rifat and explores the aftermath of one of Karavis's love affairs. Lushly sexual and sparkling with wit and intelligence, these passionate lyrics take the form of undelivered letters, written by Rifat in the wake of Karavis's desertion and his eventual marriage to her rival Anna Zoumi. Solway portrays, with subtlety and sensitivity, a powerful woman and gifted poet undergoing a turbulent emotional journey. Moving from wrath and arrogant disdain, through bitterness and grief, to an acceptance of the love she cannot subdue, his female poet grows in both strength and art. As an intimate record of one woman's anguish, The Pallikari of Nesmine Rifat is a remarkable achievement -- even more so when one recalls that the author is actually a man.

About this title

About the Author

David Solway is one of Canada's most accomplished and respected poets. His many books include Modern Marriage (winner of the QSPELL Poetry Award), Education Lost (winner of the QSPELL Award for Non-Fiction), and Franklin's Passage (winner of the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal). Also well known as a critic, he contributes regularly to the National Post and Atlantic Monthly as well as a wide variety of literary journals. He lives in Hudson, Quebec.

From the Back Cover

Lushly sexual and sparkling with wit and intelligence, The Pallikari of Nesmine Rifat documents the turbulent aftermath of a love affair between two poets, the Greek Andreas Karavis and the Turkish Cypriot Nesmine Rifat. The suite of poems Rifat calls Pallikari is a woman's record of her anguish, a series of "letters" composed after Karavis has abandoned her.

Edition details

• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0864924240
• ISBN 13: 9780864924247
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80