In Secret: Versions of Yannis Ritsos - Softcover

Ritsos, Yannis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1937679136 ISBN 13: 9781937679132

Publisher: Sheep Meadow Press, 2013

Synopsis

Yannis Ritsos (1909 1990), one of Greece s great poets, was nine times nominated for the Nobel Prize. In Secret gives the reader David Harsent s free versions, re-imaginings, adaptations a precious few of Yannis Ritsos short lyrics. His books were publicly burned and he spent many years in prison or in island detention camps. Ritsos sometimes wrote at near-epic length, but much of his work consists of short lyrics: story-fragments, tiny psychodramas. Harsent has an unmistakable, endlessly adaptable style, able to hit every tone on the scale, from leer to lament . . . Pain and loss light us through the darkness. From The Guardian review of Harsent s Night by Frances Leviston"

About this title

Review:

"In the tradition of Robert Lowell's Imitations, these are 'versions' of Ritsos by a major English poet. Yannis Ritsos, one of the most celebrated Greek poets of the 20th century, has at last found a 'companion translator' up to the task. The work that is experimental and revolutionary in Greek is experimental and revolutionary in English. 'Ritsos' output is enormous, his life heroic and eventful, his voice an embodiment of national courage.'"--The Times Literary Supplement

"He records, at times celebrates, the enigmatic, the irrational, the mysterious and invisible qualities of experience."--The New York Times Book Review

About the Author:

DAVID HARSENT has published nine collections. He has won the Forward Prize. His most recent collection, Night, won the Griffin International Poetry Prize. Harsent has collaborated with composers (most often Harrison Birtwistle) on commissions from the Royal Opera House and important international festivals and programs.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sheep Meadow Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1937679136
• ISBN 13: 9781937679132
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 84