Recent Reviews and News[Twelve Stations and Colonies]
display Różycki’s remarkably inventive use of received forms, which, like
all histories an d traditions, can both inspire and constrain, both
reinforce and diminish one’s identity.… Różycki’s
humour—which Johnston brings across with great verve, down to the pun on
Upper and Lower Silesia—takes aim at the manifold foibles and
contradictions of Polish society, but the poet never stoops to
derision. His irony is gentle: he extends universal sympathy to his
fellow refugees and colonists, be they delusional or disillusioned.
Their present is unbearable, their past irretrievable, yet they go
on.… Tomasz Różycki’s idiosyncratic rapprochement with
tradition is an attempt to make peace with his losses, even as they mount. Relocations is a highly enjoyable collection of poetry introducing
the English-language world to three incredibly diverse and talented women poets
writing in Russian that could be as meaningful to a casual fan of poetry
as to a comparative literature scholar.
[full review] Yu Xiang’s poems are the poetic equivalent of shoegazer rock. She takes
the mundane—a whiff of cigarette smoke, a falling leaf, a housefly—and
stares at it so intently that it splits open to reveal something unexpected.
[full review] That a rare poet like Bai Hua has an accomplished poet like
Fiona Sze-Lorrain to bring his work to an English-speaking audience is wonderful.
The result is a beautiful collection that helps the reader understand a poet
of such quiet restraint and largeness of heart.
[full review] The title of the book [Wind Says] succinctly characterizes
Bai's style—restless, murmuring, with an impressionistic
brevity of image—and also displays Sze-Lorrain's translating prowess.
[full review] Paul Klee’s Boat, Anzhelina Polonskaya’s [latest book],
is an emotional journey through the bleakest seasons of the human soul,
translated with great nuance by Andrew Wachtel… a vital addition to the contemporary poetry canon,
a collection as interesting as it is touching that will inevitably be remembered for years to come.
[full review] Motherless Child is a superbly wrought romantic page-turner that has elements
in it of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca,
with more than a touch of the latter’s gothic essence.
[full review] |
New and Forthcoming |
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