Outstanding Poet Research Articles

An Interpretation of the Modern World Through W.B. Yeats’s “The Second Coming” (1919) and T. S. Eliot’s “Sweeney Erect” (1919)

This research deals with the modern world and the literary and nonliterary influences that shaped the world in the twentieth century. These influenced the two outstanding poets to write their well known-poems, especially Yeats’s “The Second Coming” (19191) and Eliot’s “Sweeney Erect” (1919), furthermore; it deals with the strong connection between the two poets and their two interlinked poems. It is also a critical reading about W. B. Yeats’s poem “The Second Coming” (1919), and the destructive world of after the first world war is delineated and the behaviour and attitudes of the modern man in the twentieth society is pinpointed. T. S. Eliot’s poem, “Sweeney Erect” (1919), is critically interpreted in detail. Moreover, the infidelity, hypocrisy of modern man in the modern world and the absurdity of the modern life is presented throughout the poem. Finally, the research consists of the findings in which the researcher believes that there is a strong connection between the two poems as the to show the life of the modern man which is not harmonious, and people become senseless about the crisis of the human being that is why Yeats thinks that it is the time for the second coming of Christ to come and teach them about their sordid and absurd life and finally there would be the references.

Petrarca tra letteratura e potere politico

Petrarch between Literature and Political Power Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) was not only an outstanding poet and scholar of his age, but also an interesting example of a public intellectual ante litteram, at least he appears to be so from the writings he left to posterity. His works in Latin, in particular, provide a strong critical commentary on the political issues of his time and about civilisation and history in general. Petrarch loved to live close to the centers of power and to maintain good relationships with influential political personalities; nevertheless, he managed to avoid getting involved in practical political activity or being recruited as a secretary or courtier. Despite not being of noble birth, he succeeded in being accepted into the most prestigious social circles and, at the same time, maintained sufficient independence and freedom to dedicate his time to literature. In his works he tried to impose ancient Rome as a social model and Roman heroes as exemplars of individual qualities; he also tried to convince the political powers (especially the Italian maritime republics and the Roman Emperor) to re-establish Italian dominance, to as great an extent as possible, within the borders of the Roman Empire. Petrarch sought to quell the violence of Italian political life and restore the papacy to Rome, with the aim of opposing French power in Europe.

The Poet from Ostrog

The article presents the literary works of Lev Gomolicki, an outstanding Russian poet, an emigre writer in the interwar period, and a prominent Polish scholar in the field of Russian studies after 1945. He spent his youth in Volyn. Local themes are very important for his literary works. The article is an introduction to an essay by Gomolicki about the tradition Ukrainian folk song, accomopanied by the text of a song under discussion

Sanctuary in the Wilderness: A Critical Introduction to American Hebrew Poetry

SEPTEMBER–OCTOBER 2012 77 Anne Swärd Breathless Deborah Bragan-Turner, tr. MacLehose Press Six-year-old Lo and thirteen-year-old Lukas meet in the aftermath of the brush fire that signals the end of Lo’s idyllic childhood. By turns tender and sinister, their relationship will leave Lo marked forever. Swärd weaves a tapestry of wellworn themes with a fresh vision that makes them seem new again. Su Tong The Boat to Redemption Howard Goldblatt, tr. Overlook Press When the truth of their ancestry is revealed, Secretary Ku and his son flee and attempt to rebuild their lives among the boat people. Set during the Cultural Revolution, The Boat to Redemption depicts a people trapped by desire while under the constant watch of the Communist Party. Nota Bene also affected the rest of the world because the direct murders were part of World War II. In addition to its literary merits, this anthology is a reminder in 2012 of what happened in the 1940s. The original poems of this book were written in Hungarian, texts of a belletristic tradition, and were translated by the two editors as well as by the English poet Clive Wilmer. The poets include Radnóti, the Anglo-Hungarian poet George Szirtes, Vas, Castro and Gyukics, Lakatos, Zollman, Mezei, Feldmár, Csoóri, Liebert, Székely, Roberts and Kurdi, Tótfalusi, Orbán, Gorman , K. Miklós, Szilágyi, McKendrick, Daróczi, Berengarten, Sumonyi, Bosley , Turczi, Munzel, and Borbély. In his foreword to the collection , Sir Martin Gilbert writes: “Each poem in this volume is a world of its own, an assertion of the struggle of the human spirit faced with inexplicable torments.” And so it is—the Holocaust lacks merriment, even optimism; the poems are a cycle of Jeremiads each showing that living at the time would have been equal with staying in hell. The three outstanding poets of the anthology had different fates. Miklós Radnóti, a Catholic convert, was arrested as a Jew and martyred in Lager Heidenau in Serbia. His final poems were found in the pocket of his greatcoat, among them this fragment : “I lived on this earth in an age / When man fell so low he killed with pleasure / And willingly, not merely under orders . . .” János Pilinszky suffered the fate of a POW and transmitted his experiences into haunting poetry: “And like a cattle-yard prepared / for the herded beasts outside – / its gates flung open violently – / death, for them, gapes wide.” István Vas, a man of letters and an exceptional intellectual, survived the Hungarian fascist regime hiding in the flat of a friend. He commented on the order to wear a yellow star: “It’s not those who today wear stars, / under my own I bear the scars; / my country’s yellow mark of shame.” The anthology contains a wide range of poets: those Jews who died, those who survived the Holocaust, whose relatives persisted, those who were Romani, those who are now middle-aged, and those who are young. It is a reminder to remember and to remain vigilant. Thomas Kabdebo Newcastle, Ireland Alan Mintz. Sanctuary in the Wilderness : A Critical Introduction to American Hebrew Poetry. Stanford , California. Stanford University Press. 2012. isbn 9780804762939 Alan Mintz’s Sanctuary in the Wilderness represents a grand undertaking of the emergence and development of Hebrew poetry in America. Only with language, the magical vehicle of human expression, is it possible to tell such a story—all at once a group story, a personal story, and a national story. Robert Graves writes in “To Juan at the Winter Solstice” that “there is one story and one story only that will prove worth your telling , whether as learned bard or gifted child.” Rainer Maria Rilke tells us that objects come to us to be named; one sits and waits for the words to come. Writers and poets anywhere sit and wait for the tale to unfold. Indeed, there is one story and one 78 WORLD LITERATURE TODAY reviews story only that will prove worthy of the telling. And so it is also with Sanctuary in the Wilderness. But this story is a story with a clear imperative...

True friendship: Geoffrey Hill, Anthony Hecht, and Robert Lowell under the sign of Eliot and Pound

True Friendship looks closely at three outstanding poets of the past half-century-Geoffrey Hill, Anthony Hecht, and Robert Lowell-through the lens of their relation to their two predecessors in genius, T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. The critical attention then finds itself reciprocated, with Eliot and Pound being in their turn contemplated anew through the lenses of their successors. Hill, Hecht, and Lowell are among the most generously alert and discriminating readers, as is borne out not only by their critical prose but (best of all) by their acts of new creation, those poems of theirs that are thanks to Eliot and Pound. Opposition is true Friendship. So William Blake believed, or at any rate hoped. Hill, Hecht, and Lowell demonstrate many kinds of friendship with Eliot and Pound: adversarial, artistic, personal. In their creative assent and dissent, the imaginative literary allusions-like other, wider forms of influence-are shown to constitute the most magnanimous of welcomes and of tributes.

Adumbrative Allusion in Balzac’s Illusions perdue s

Balzac was a master of allusion. He usually embedded his allusive patterns so seamlessly that, although they may work on the reader's subconscious, they only call attention to themselves with great subtlety. While in most cases, as for example when he alludes to the female novelists Mme Girardin, Mme Guizot, and others in La muse du departement, he forms simple parallels that make his adventures seem more forceful and pertinent for contemporary readers, in some cases the allusions establish antitheses. In Splendeurs et miseres des courtisanes, for example, the clear references to the biblical story of Esther and Mordecai create an obvious opposition to Balzac's Esther, for the latter serves not the sovereign God of the Hebrews but the maleficent Jacques Collin or Vautrin. Occasionally, the allusions create surprising complexity, encompassing entire works. I think of Eugenie Grandet, an instance where the author's references to the Bible and church history establish dueling religions that oppose Mammon to love. In all cases, Balzac's allusions add complexity and richness to the tapestry he weaves. (1) The allusions in Illusions perdues (1837-43) serve to adumbrate Lucien's fate. In 1819, shortly before the period when Illusions perdues was set, the writer and critic Henri de Latouche had revealed Chenier to the French public. Balzac refers to the revolutionary poet a number of times and, as the Pleiade editor, Roland Chollet, notes, associated him with toute une atmosphere morale de jeunesse, d'exaltation, d'idealisme forcene (5.147n2). Certainly, for Balzac, Chenier was unquestionably one of the great poets of France. He tried early on to pastiche him, he cited his poems in his letters, he took various passages to serve as epigraphs in his pre-Comedie humaine novels by Lord R'hoone, and what Chollet terms his delicate appreciation of Latouche's preface to the 1820 edition of Chenier leaves no doubt of the novelist's appreciation: Un poete retrouve par un poete,Lucien says (5.147 and n2). As Balzac put it in one of his letters to Madame Hanska, Chenier was for him poete de l'amour, le plus grand des poetes francais (Lettres a Madame Hanska 1.71). The text of Illusions perdues refers to Chenier repeatedly in connection with the two enthusiastic young men, Lucien and David, and casts long shadows of meaning forward, in particular relationship to Lucien. Such reiterations always indicate importance in La Comedie humaine. Most obviously, Lucien resembles Chenier as a great promise that was never fulfilled, however different the reasons for this lack of success. As Latouche put it, Andre Chenier n'avait en mourant ... qu'un nom promis a la celebrite. (2) Likewise, Balzac leaves no doubt that Lucien is an eagle, although young (5.147, 173), at least until his repeated failures reveal him as at most an aiglon (e.g., 5.577). Eagles are characterized by their daring flight, speed, and close association with thunder, fire, intelligence, and action (Cirlot 87, 321; Chevalier 750). Appropriately, given his desire for gloire and his love of flashy attire, his name derives from the etymon lux or light (Hanks 212-13). The text makes it clear that the young man could have established himself as an outstanding poet had he been stronger and capable of refusing easy paths to success, first as a journalist, then as a corrupt socialite. David, on the other hand, is ce boeuf.He wonderfully characterizes ox's symbolic qualities of patience, submission, and self-sacrifice (5.147, 559; Cirlot 236, 321, 750). For some three years David and Lucien had enjoyed getting together to read great, recent works of art and science. On one day in particular, David has just received a small 18mo volume of Chenier's poems, published in 1820, and he reads several: Neere, puis celle du Jeune Malade, puis l'elegie sur le suicide, celle dans le goute ancien, et les deux derniers iambes (5.147). Unquestionably, the readings emphasize the young men's enjoyment of the poetic moment. …

“Ossetia: From Epos of the Northern Caucasus to the Modern Novels”

The material deals with the opening of the illustrative exhibition “Ossetia: From Epos of the Northern Caucasus to the Modern Novels” held on October 14, 2009 in the Russian State Library. The exhibition was coincided with the 150th anniversary of Kosta Khetagurov, outstanding poet and founder of the Ossetian literature. Books and examples of Ossetian decorative arts were presented.

Poetic Affairs: Celan, Grünbein, Brodsky by Michael Eskin

MLR, 104.3, 2009 917 apparently greeted with suspicion?but a fuller investigation of thismight have ex ceeded the limits of what is an excellent, concentrated study specifically of the development of Sternberger's language critique. Trinity College Dublin Gilbert Carr Poetic Affairs:Celan, Gr?nbein, Brodsky. ByMichael Eskin. Stanford,CA: Stanford University Press. 2008. 237 pp. $68; ?43.50. ISBN 978-0-8047-5831-4. It isdifficult to do justice to this extraordinarily ambitious, original, and constantly exhilarating book in the space of a short review.At one level itdeals with the complex interface between lifeand literature through the prism of three outstanding poets: theGerman-Jewish poet and Holocaust survivor, Paul Celan; the Leningrad native, US poet laureate, and Nobel Prize winner, Joseph Brodsky; and Germany's premier contemporary poet, Durs Gr?nbein. In each case Michael Eskin focuses on a single traumatic literary existential affair': forCelan the 'G?ll affair' of 1952, which cast a shadow over the rest of the poet's life; for Brodsky his imprisonment in 1964 and subsequent expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1972, while his mind was on a curious menage a troiswith his lifelongmuse Marianna Basmanova and his friend and fellow poet Dmitri Bobyshev; and forGr?nbein the exile of Lucius Annaeus Seneca toCorsica in 41 ce, on trumped-up charges of adultery with theEmperor's niece JuliaLivilla. From these apparently disparate beginnings comes an attempt to capture themetabolization of real life intopoetry and thus intobiographical legend, but also to draw conclusions about the relationship between lifeand poetology per se and finally to articulate theworking of poetry as ethical practice. On closer inspection, of course, thepoets are not disparate at all; and the affairistic reading' (to use Eskin's terms) of theirwork adds up tomore than the sum of its parts. Cumulatively the chapters focus on the constitution of poetic signification (Celan), the emergence ofpoetic subjectivity (Gr?nbein), and finally the assumption of poetic and ethical agency on thepart of thepoetic subject (Brodsky). And in each case the ostensible affair reveals itselfas a way of simultaneously encoding literary love affairs: inCelan's case his poetology of erotic 'Counterword' inhis translation of Shakespeare's Sonnets, forGr?nbein his dialogue with the precious dead', here Seneca; and forBrodsky his ventriloquism of, and response to,Byron. In elucidating the hidden origins of texts by each of these authors in turn Eskin offers a series of dazzling and sometimes dizzyingly erudite close readings. More over, he uncovers themanifold connections atwork between the poets themselves, including a fascinating excursus on Dante in his reading of Brodsky (Gr?nbein's obsession with Dante iswell known), the use of linked images, especially of the 'Flaschenpost' or message in a bottle, and finally, a shared literary genealogy in Osip Mandel'stam (where the image originated). The real plea of the book is to uncover the 'inner lifeof poetry' (p. 130) and that, forEskin, is as ethical agency. Anyone who has followed his work will be aware of Eskin's long-standing agenda in this regard: set out first inEthics and Dialogue in the Works ofLevinas, Bakhtin, 9i8 Reviews Mandel'shtarriy and Celan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) and reiterated in his edited volume Literature and Ethics (=Poetics Today, 25.4 (2004)). This volume takes that same project furtherbut raises an interesting ethical lacuna along theway: the voices ultimately lost and the lives sublimated into art in that short-circuit as greatmen talk to one another across the ages. The lives translated are not only those of the poets but also those of themuse/beloved who has become material for ethical exchange in another arena towhich she has no access. Eskin isone of themost consistently exciting and subtle criticswriting on poetry today; hemoves between languages, traditions, and disciplines with ease. This latest book is in effecta stringentlyfocused and franklybrilliant essay of 150 pages with 50 pages of notes (sometimes three in a single sentence) which would have furnished material almost foranother volume. Some of themost startling insights are, though, frustratinglybrief (almost asides): on the perils ofmetaphor, for example, on the ethics of translation, love poetry, exile as a poetic paradigm, or the erotics of the reading encounter. The book is...

Intertextuality and Its Meaning in Natan Zach's “'Enosh keair yamav” (As for man, his days are as grass)

Natan Zach, a prominent subversive Israeli poet, began publishing his poetry in the mid-1950s, together with a group of young poets who felt obliged to transform Hebrew poetry. This group included poets and critics such as Moshe Dor, Arye Sivan, Yehuda Amichai, David Avidan, Gershon Shaked, and Benjamin Harshav (Hrushovski). They published their first poems and essays in Likra't (Toward), a journal that they founded, and their group took on the same name. Only four issues of the journal appeared between 1952 and 1954. Zach was one of the outstanding poets in this group. His first book of poetry, Shirim ri'shonim (Early Poems), was published in 1955. His second book, Shirim shonim (Diverse Poems, 1960), totally changed the Israeli canon in terms of its themes and its poetic texture.

Czesławas Miłoszas už cenzūros ribų

For almost twenty-five years, from January 1951 until the end of 1977, there was practically no literary output by Czesław Miłosz in Poland. Books published by the printing houses in exile, especially by the Instytut Literacki (Institut Littéraire in Paris), and illegally sent to Poland were hidden away in academic libraries. Their status was "politically dangerous literature". Access to these books and information about the life and the literary works of this outstanding poet were rationed by the Główny Urząd Cenzury (Main Censorship Board of People's Republic of Communist Poland) [...].

Tearmann: Sanctuary

Dúchas. This word is frequently translated into English as "heritage." A word that is full of death and stasis. But to an Irish speaker, it means one's native place, a shared tradition, a collective soul, a kindred affection, a natural affinity. Filleadh ar do dhúchas. "To return home, to where one belongs, to revert to kind." It is something that is bidding me a prodigal's welcome after many years. For my father, Liam MacCarráin, Irish was a place of refuge. He was once interviewed for Radio Ulster's "Tearmann" program—where guests were asked what gave them sanctuary in their lives. He chose the Irish language itself. He hid within and took comfort from words. The language itself was another world, something parallel—and magical—to the mundane world. He arrived into this world as William Carson in the year 1916. He spent his childhood i dteach bheag i sráid bheag—"in a little house in a little street"—in the Clonard parish of the Falls Road. There was one room downstairs, two upstairs, and an outdoor toilet. His father was a boilermaker for Harland and Wolff, but lost his job in 1920, when he was forced out of the shipyard in an anti-Catholic pogrom. He was lucky to escape alive. Many of his co-workers were shot, or drowned in the River Lagan. He would never regain full-time employment, surviving on odd jobs, window-cleaning and the like. In 1930, at the age of fourteen, my Da started work as a telegraph messenger for the Post Office, earning twelve shillings and seven pence a week. He would give his mother ten shillings, which paid for rent and coal. The remainder covered his expenses: a packet of ten Woodbines at two pence; a tram journey out of town for a penny. In his book Is Cuimhin Liom an t-Am (I Remember the Time) he described his awakening to the beauty of Irish. In the post office, he met Ruairí Ó Maolchallan and Padaí Ó hÉigeartaigh. He found himself spellbound listening to their Irish—faoi dhraíocht acu ag comhrá le chéile i nGaeilge. Fired by his determination to master as much of the language as possible and as quickly as possible, he attended two classes a week. He practiced his Irish at socials in An Cumann Gaelach, where he would meet migrant mill workers, girls from the Donegal Gaeltacht. After two years, he went for the Fáinne test, where he was [End Page 9] examined by Domhnall Ó Grianna, brother of famed Donegal writers Seamus Ó Grianna and Seosamh Mac Grianna. His examination was short and sweet. Domhnall simply asked him if he was Liam MacCarráin. "Is mise," replied my father, whereupon the Fáinne was pinned to his lapel. He was already famous for his outstanding command of Irish. In May, 1934, my father went on his first visit to Rann na Feirste, birthplace of the Ó Grianna brothers, renowned for its many outstanding poets, singers, and storytellers. Among their number was Johnny Shéamaisín, with whom my father stayed. Johnny's house was nothing less than a treasure-store of language and literature, both oral and written. Johnny's family had a huge collection of books in Irish, as his brother Niall worked for the publishing house of An Gúm. My father would spend hours in the family library, thumbing through book after book. Every night after supper, they would decamp to the house of the seanchaí Micí Sheáin Néill, often listening to stories until three in the morning. My father learned much from these people. Theirs was a world where social contact was based on ag airneáil—"visiting"—and where storytelling was the prime form of entertainment. Beauty and precision in speech was profoundly valued. My father molded himself in their image to such an extent that in later years, he came to be praised by many as a wonderful folklorist...

Convents as Homes

SUMMARY The present article discusses convents as homes. Resulting from the study of a Gregorian source presently housed at DePaul University's Richardson library, this article probes the complexities and restrictions of convent life in 17th century Spain. The Sanctoral de Visperas (1653) functions as a backdrop for a consideration of how singing chant and attendant rituals enriched the lives of nuns. Also included are references to nuns from this period who were outstanding musicians and poets and whose works have recently received enthusiastic attention.

Modernism in practice: an introduction to postwar Japanese poetry

Postwar modernist verse has been rarely discussed in English-language works on Japanese literature, despite the fact that it has been the dominant mode of poetic expression in Japan since World War II. Now readers of modern Japanese poetry in translation have gained an impressive intellectual and linguistic companion in their enjoyment of modern Japanese verse. Modernism in Practice combines close readings of individual Japanese postwar poets and poetry with historical and critical analysis. Five of the seven chapters concentrate on the life and work of such outstanding poets as Soh Sakon, Ishigaki Rin, Ito Hiromi, Asabuki Ryoji, and Tanikawa Shuntaro. Several of these writers have only come into prominence in recent decades, so this work also serves to acquaint readers with contemporary Japanese verse. A significant dimension of this volume is the detailed and extensive treatment afforded two important areas of postwar Japanese verse: the poetry of women and of Okinawa. In addition, the book looks at a number of early prewar poets, including Yosano Akiko and her husband, Tekkan, in an attempt to analyze the origins of modernist poetry in Japan. Modernism in Practice is noteworthy not only as an introduction to postwar Japanese poets and their times, but also for the numerous poems that appear in translation throughout the volume - many for the first time in book form. These elegant, evocative translations, together with a contextual study unmatched in depth and conviction, make this an exciting contribution to modern Japanese literature.

Ad vieku ŭ viek: Biełaruskaja paezija / Iz veka v vek. Belorusskaia poeziia by A. K. Kozhedub L. N. Turbina (review)

REVIEWS 731 possessed his own means of access to French modernism. Later he would single out Proust, not Gide, as one of the four greatest mastersof twentiethcenturyprose . My opening comments on this book's affinitieswith Western scholarship should not obscureitsfruitfulconnections with severalgenerationsof Russian literary and cultural study, ranging from the classic systems outlook of Tynianov, Lotman, and Uspenskii to recent work on the fusion of life and literature by Svetlana Boym, Gregory Freidin, and Irina Paperno. With its archival thoroughness, critical insights, cross-culturalrange, and theoretical incisiveness, How It WasDonein Parisoffers a richly detailed, provocative overview of a poorly known but illuminating confluence of emigre Russian and Frenchliterarytendencies. Department ofEnglish JOHN BURT FOSTER, JR. George MasonUniversity, VA Kozhedub, A. K. and Turbina, L. N. (comps). Ad viekuu viek.Bielaruskaja paezija/ Iz vekav vek.Belorusskaia poeziia.Slavianskaiapoeziia XX-XXI. Pranat,Moscow, 2003. 704 pp. Index. Priceunknown. LITERATURE written in 'minor'languages needs to be translatedif it is to find a wider audience, and in this respect Belarusian literature is no exception. Although one or two prose writers,notably the late VasilBykaui(1924-2003), have attained internationalfame, Belarusianpoetry still lacks the reputation that its variety, innovativeness and high technical standardswarrant. Thus, this bilingual anthology deserves to be welcomed for helping to remedy the situation,even though its audience will inevitablybe mainlyrussophone. A century ago the poet A1esHarun (I887-I920) remarkedof Belarusthat 'thepeople themselvesarea bard'and, indeed, the flourishingof poetryin this unhappy land has been a notable feature of Slav literaturein the second half of the twentiethcentury.The anthologyof paralleltextsunderreviewincludes examples of the work of more than a hundred poets, put into Russian by a dozen translators,three of whom are the poets themselves, and at least one who is also a compiler, Liubov' Turbina (b. 1942) a considerable Russianlanguage poet in her own right. She is also the author of a thoughtful introduction, outlining the different generations within the anthology: from the 'philological poets' of the sixties who were encouraged and respected during the Thaw, often finding their way into editorships of journals and comparable posts, to the stagnant seventies when, nonetheless, several outstanding poets like Ales Razanaui (b. 1947) and Uladzimir Niaklajeul (b. I946) came to the fore, followed by the post-Chernobylgeneration of the eighties, outstanding amongst whom is Anatol Sys (b. 1959). This anthology presents a broad picture of varied and rich creative achievement. If the quantityof poets representedmight suggestto the uninitiatedthat the net has been cast too widely, it may be noted that, for the similarperiod, the recent, and now standard, monolingual anthology of Belarusianpoetry (M. Skobla ed., Krasa isi/a,Miensk, 2003) gives examplesof well over two hundredpoets. 732 SEER, 82, 3, 2004 It is a myth, often refuted by Bykau and others, that relatively close languages are easy to translateone into another. This undoubtedly appliesto the process of putting Belarusianinto Russian. The 'false friends'beloved of language text books are here a danger to be avoided in syntax and idiom, whilst particular problems are created for translatorsby the lexical inventiveness of severalof the best poets, includingRazanau and the doyen of them all, Ryhor Baradulin (b. I935). On the whole, however, the standard of translationhere is admirablyhigh. In the I96os Bykauitook to puttinghis own worksinto Russian to avoid Bowdlerizationat the translationstage, but those who do it in this anthology presumably have other reasons. They include a majorhistoricalnovelistwho has recentlytaken up poetry, Uladzimier Arloui (b. I953), and a talented poet and dissidentAleh Biembiel (b. 1939) who in 2000 abandoned the world for life as a monk. Biembiel is one of seventeen poets here not included in the Krasai sitaanthology, which may, perhaps, be takenas furtherconfirmationof Belarus'srichpoetic resources. This bilingualanthology isa timelyandworthwhileenterprise,well selected and edited, with a good overallstandardof translations.It may be hoped that, at the beginning of a new century, it will go some way towards putting Belarusianpoetry on the map. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ARNOLD MCMILLIN University College London Stephan, Halina (ed.). Livingin Translation: PolishWriters inAmerica. Studies in Slavic Literatureand Poetics, 38. EditionsRodopi, Amsterdamand New York,2003. 382 pp. Notes. ?78.oo: $93.00 (paperback). HALINA STEPHAN has done a finejob of editing sixteen essays into a unified anthology on Polishexile writingin America, between...

The 1912–13 Balkan Wars and the Siege of Edirne

Depending on the angle of view, the first and second Balkan1 wars of 1912–13 have been considered either as the culmination of a freedom struggle2 for the Christian nations of south-eastern Europe ...

War and Revolution: The United States and Russia, 1914-1921 by Norman E. s> Saul (review)

REVIEWS 753 (also known as the Dostoevskii scholar, Vladimir Seduro), Kastus' Akula's Zmaharnyia darohi,and Auihien Kalubovich's Na kgyzhovai daroze;Akula's wartime trilogy, Haravatka; the life and fate of Mikola Tselesh; the prose of outstanding poet Masiei Siadniou-; and, finally, the creative writing of memoiristAliaksandraSakovich. A third, far shorter section treats two examples of satirical prose: the 'diaries'of Liavon Savionak,and the story'Tryvoha'by the leading criticand scholarAnton (Anthony)Adamovich. In his conclusion, Ales' Pashkevich rightly asserts the position of emigre Belarusianprose as a fittingand necessarycomponent of the general literary context of his country. In producing this thoroughly researched and well organized study he deserves congratulations on having performed an undoubtedlyworthwhiletask.The book will be of value to all concerned with Belarusianculturalhistoryand, indeed, those with a more general interestin the troubledliteraryprocess of EasternEurope and its emigration duringthe troubled last century. It deserves a place in all libraries with Slavonic collections. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ARNOLD MCMILLIN University College London Saul, Norman E. WarandRevolution. TheUnitedStatesandRussia,1914-I92 I. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 200I. xx + 483 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Maps. Photographs. Index. $45.00. IN thisvolume of Norman E. Saul'shistoryof United States-Russianrelations, the pace slows down. Whereas the previousvolumes dealt, respectively,with over a centuryand nearlyfiftyyears,thislargebook coverslessthan a decade. Indeed, the pace slowsdown even within it since at leastfour-fifthsof itspages are devoted to 1917-I9I9. This concentration is justified, given both the complex variety of interactions between the two countries in these years of revolution, civil war and outside military intervention, and the significance that these interactions have generally been assumed to have for subsequent history. Indeed, during the Cold War the study of these interactions became a historiographical battleground. Amid the ideologically-driven controversy, some outstanding works were produced, notably George F. Kennan's two volumes, RussiaLeaves theWar(Princeton,NJ, I956) and TheDecision toIntervene (Princeton, NJ, 1958). Saul does not refer directly to previous historians or engage at length with what have been the central issues of contention. He criticizes American actions in I9I 7- I9I8 as 'too little and too late' (p. I65) without committing himself to the view that it was within the power of the United Statesto averteitherthe Bolshevikrevolutionor the separatepeace at Brest-Litovsk. The strength of this account, however, lies less in its re-telling of the diplomatic moves of these years than in its broadening of the canvas, and the freshmaterialthat Saul has drawnfromthe Iso manuscriptcollections he has consulted. (The book is based almost exclusively on primarysources.)These 754 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 include the records of the leading American businesses in Russia in 1914, Singerand InternationalHarvester,and one of Saul'smostinterestingfindings is how far their operations managed to keep going even in the most difficult times. Singer, despite having sufferedfrom being widely seen in Russia as a German company, still sold over six thousand sewing machines in the winter of I9I8-I9I9, while the Harvester factory outside Moscow continued to produce mowers and reapers in substantial numbers throughout. Also remarkableis the extent of medical and other relief provided by American agencies to German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war in Russia in 1914-19 I7. Although financed by Germany, this programme was overseen by the American embassy, and no doubt gave the Red Cross and YMCA valuable experience for their later efforts in Russia in the more chaotic circumstancesof I917-1919. Quotations from the diariesand lettersof those involved in these later efforts,and in the militaryexpeditions to North Russia and Siberia, give a vividness and concreteness to Saul's review of these enterprises,as do the many and well-chosen photographs. At times, the reader gains the impression that Saul became somewhat overwhelmed by the mass of detailed informnation he had accumulated. The organization of the book, with many short subsections, is not as clear as it might be, and involves some jumbling of chronology. Some facts and quotationsare repeated, and one quotation is attributedwithin a few pages to an 'anonymous officer' and to an identified individual (pp. 372, 375) because it survivesin two differentcollections. There is a casual reference to 'Francis'(p. 39) before the American ambassador has been introduced. In suchways, the...

Zvarotnyia darohi: Proza belaruskai emihratsii XX stahoddzia by Ales' Pashkevich (review)

752 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 Pashkevich, Ales'. Zvarotnyia darohli. Proza belaruskai emihratsii XX stahoddzia. Belaruskae litaraturnae ab'ednanne, Bialystok, 2001. 238 pp. Index. Priceunknown. BELARUSIANS have been far less inclined to emigratefrom their countrythan, for instance, Russians and Poles, but the Belarusian emigration, too, was sufficientlynumerous and intrinsicallyinterestingto provide a valid field for research.Indeed, the lastfew yearshave seen a markedlyincreasedinterestin the historyand literaryactivitiesof the Belarusianemigration,both in Belarus itself and in some of the places where the emigres found new homes in the middle of the last century. In part, this may be attributed to the relatively recent possibilityof Belarusianscholarsconsulting Westernpublications and archival materials, and partly to the fact that the emigre communities themselves,strengthenedby a new generation, have respondedactivelyto the challenge of collecting and publishing scattered materials before they are irretrievablylost. Ales' Pashkevich,a lecturer at Minsk State University, is known as a poet and historicalnovelist aswell as a scholarwith a stronginterestin emigration. The present book will undoubtedly serve a valuable purpose in advancing knowledge of Belarusian emigre prose for so long a taboo subject to studentsandothersin Belarusitself.At a timewhen theBelarusiangovernment seems, at best, ambivalenttowardsthe poets and writersof the emigration, it serves as a reminder of the ongoing valuable co-operation between Poland and Belarus (particularly in an eastwards direction) that this enterprising studywas publishedin the ethnicallyBelarusianterritoryof easternPoland. The book begins with an overall survey of the emigration from Belarus between i9 I8 and the I99os, and of the groupsand publicationsthat resulted, aswell as of the principalprotagonists.In the second introductorychapterthe author addressesthe question of twentieth-centuryBelarusianliteratureas a discreethistoricaland culturalentity. Like many Slav and other emigrations,the Belarusians,most of whom left Belarusat the end of WorldWarTwo, were anxious to correctthe distortions and omissionsimposed on theirhistoricaltraditions.Thus, it is not surprising that one of the two central sections of the studyis devoted to historicalprose, beginning with the period associated with the first modern historian of Belarus, VatslauiLastoaski. After some reflections on the significance of historicalprose for his country,Pashkevichgoes on to discussLastouiski's own works written in emigration and the tradition he established. Three other writers are highlighted: PauliukViadziorny (better known, in this country, where he lived, as Paul Urban); Uladzimir Sluchanski and his ambitious historicalnovel Draby,which Pashkevichconsiders to be the most important and readable example of historical fiction written in emigration; and the prominent criticand oppositionalpublicistJurkaVits'bich. The other main section of the book is devoted to memoir literature and autobiographicalprose.Aftera generalsurveyof thefield,the authordiscusses nine writersindividually:ViktarVal'tarand his unknown novel of the I920S, Rozhdanyia pad Saturnam; the memoirs of celebrated dramatist Frantsishak Aliakhnovich;'novels' such as Vialikiia darohi by Uladzimir Siadura-Hlybinny REVIEWS 753 (also known as the Dostoevskii scholar, Vladimir Seduro), Kastus' Akula's Zmaharnyia darohi,and Auihien Kalubovich's Na kgyzhovai daroze;Akula's wartime trilogy, Haravatka; the life and fate of Mikola Tselesh; the prose of outstanding poet Masiei Siadniou-; and, finally, the creative writing of memoiristAliaksandraSakovich. A third, far shorter section treats two examples of satirical prose: the 'diaries'of Liavon Savionak,and the story'Tryvoha'by the leading criticand scholarAnton (Anthony)Adamovich. In his conclusion, Ales' Pashkevich rightly asserts the position of emigre Belarusianprose as a fittingand necessarycomponent of the general literary context of his country. In producing this thoroughly researched and well organized study he deserves congratulations on having performed an undoubtedlyworthwhiletask.The book will be of value to all concerned with Belarusianculturalhistoryand, indeed, those with a more general interestin the troubledliteraryprocess of EasternEurope and its emigration duringthe troubled last century. It deserves a place in all libraries with Slavonic collections. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ARNOLD MCMILLIN University College London Saul, Norman E. WarandRevolution. TheUnitedStatesandRussia,1914-I92 I. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 200I. xx + 483 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Maps. Photographs. Index. $45.00. IN thisvolume of Norman E. Saul'shistoryof United States-Russianrelations, the pace slows down. Whereas the previousvolumes dealt, respectively,with over a centuryand nearlyfiftyyears,thislargebook coverslessthan a decade. Indeed, the pace slowsdown even within it since at leastfour-fifthsof itspages are devoted to 1917-I9I9. This concentration is justified, given both the complex variety of interactions between the two countries in these years of revolution, civil war and outside military intervention...

Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry

This definitive collection displays the beauty and elegance of the best in Welsh poetry from the 20th century. Chosen by one of Wales's most celebrated contemporary poets, this compilation spans the breadth of Welsh life, including the poetry of Georgian influenced W. H. Davies and Edward Thomas, Welsh-language enthusiasts Tony Conran and Nigel Jenkins, and politically inspired Tony Curtis and Duncan Bush. Hundreds of other important Welsh poets are also represented, including John Ormond, Leslie Norris, Harry Webb, Jean Earle, and Gwyneth Lewis. This new edition brings the century completely up to date with the inclusion of work by outstanding new poets Owen Sheers, Sarah Corbett, Kate Bingham and Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch.

On the Outside Looking in: Greek Literature in the English-speaking World

On the Outside Looking in: Greek Literature in theEnglish-Speaking World Dimitri Mitropoulos In November 1996 I visited New York on assignment and found myself at Simon & Schuster’s offices researching a story on current trends in U.S. publishing. The waiting room outside the executive suite was adorned with photographs of famous writers published by the company. To my surprise, sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald was Nikos Kazantzakis. Kazantzakis appears to be the Greek practitioner of fiction best known outside of Greece, judging from titles published, reprints, and movies (Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ being the latest). 1 Yet, the presence of his photograph on the seventeenth floor of 1230 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center can be deceptive, for it says little about the standing of contemporary Greek literature in the English-speaking world. A few blocks downtown from Simon & Schuster, on my same visit, I interviewed Bill Buford, literary and fiction editor of the New Yorker and former editor of Granta magazine. At some point I inquired about his interest in fiction not written in English. Inevitably, the conversation came to contemporary Greek literature. “Any Greek writers you might be interested in?” I asked. “No,” he answered, professing total ignorance on the subject. Later, a stroll around Manhattan bookshops illustrated his reply: their shelves offered little, if any, enlightenment on present-day Greek fiction. 2 Indeed, Greek literature’s reception in the English-speaking world appears to have been poor in the last few years (Mitropoulos 1995a). Of course, alongside Kazantzakis stands C. P. Cavafy as another exception: his journey in the hearts and minds of readers and scholars appears not to have reached Ithaca yet judging from an upsurge of his popularity in [End Page 187] the United States in 1994 after the poem bearing that title was read at Jackie Onassis’s memorial service (Mitropoulos 1994b). Greek writing is better off in other language environments, especially in France. 3 But its eclipse in the United Kingdom and the United States is all the more painful since English is the lingua franca of our age. Things did look more promising in 1979 when the poet Odysseas Elytis was awarded the Nobel prize in literature. His achievement came only fourteen years after another poet, George Seferis, became Greece’s first Nobel laureate. Given that Greece is a small country and that the number of Greek speakers does not exceed approximately fifteen million, the awards were reason for national pride and were felt to assure worldwide recognition for contemporary Greek literature. Yet the last fifteen years, it seems, have marked a reversal of fortune for Greek letters. Did the writers and poets succeeding the Generation of the ‘30s, whose achievements the Nobel prizes crowned, fail to live up to its legacy? To limit the discussion to a Balkan context, no living Greek writer today claims the international renown of the Turk Orhan Pamuk or the Albanian Ishmail Kadare. Even worse, the Nobel laureates themselves have not fared so well either. It is telling that neither of them made Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon, published in 1994. The obvious question is: Why? To borrow the terminology of the age: Is it a content or a distribution problem? It would perhaps be useful to start seeking the answers by looking closely at the career of a Greek man of letters who did achieve recognition in the English-speaking world: George Seferis. One ought to begin by pointing out that Seferis, an outstanding poet, shared the prevailing cultural concerns of his time and possessed a cosmopolitan outlook as far as literature is concerned. His poetic style bears the influence of French Symbolism and Anglo-American modernism (Vayenas 1979:105–185). Well-read in both movements, he tried to introduce key texts in Greece through his own translations (of Paul Valéry’s “La soirée avec Monsieur Teste,” for example or—more famously perhaps—of T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land). A major part of his poetry was thematically constructed around the Hellenic—the civilization of ancient Greece—, then universally esteemed. Seferis explored the interaction between the classical tradition (be it the...

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet Extraordinaire

That Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was one of America's most outstanding poets is hardly a little-known fact. That he was also an accomplished mathematician is something few people know. One of the problems mathematics instructors face is dealing with mathematics anxiety and the myth that “some people have a math mind and some don't” (Kogelman and Warren 1978). Mathematics is often viewed as a “mystique accessible to few” (Buxton 1981); and even many educators will categorize a student as a non mathematics person, thus students “are steered away from precollege mathematics” and “not even given the chance to fail” (Tobias 1978). We forget that success in mathematics is dependent on interest as much as ability. and I am afraid that we often do not take the steps we could to reach individual students