Collected Poems, 1920-1954: Bilingual Edition (Inscribed by Translator)

Galassi, Jonathan (Author, Translator)

ISBN 10: 0374125546 / ISBN 13: 9780374125547

Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1998

About this Item

INSCRIBED by Jonathan Galassi (translator) on half-title page. Light wear/rubbing to dust jacket else a very neat, tight copy. Record # 454419.

Seller Inventory # 454419

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Collected Poems, 1920-1954: Bilingual Edition (Inscribed by Translator)
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374125546
• ISBN 13: 9780374125547
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

A new translation of the poetry of the greatest modern Italian poet, who updated Dante's lyric tradition for the twentieth century and whose love poems stand with literature's greatest, offers extensive notes and discussions of these subtle and difficult works.

Reviews

The work of Montale, the great modern Italian poet and 1975 Nobel prize winner, swarms with musical imagery and many-layered wordplay. One of many translators (William Arrowsmith, Cuttlefish Bones, LJ 7/93, is another), Galassi presents a hefty bilingual edition that contains translations of three works: Cuttlefish Bones (1920-27); The Occasions (1928-39); and The Storm and Other Things (1940-54). Galassi argues that Montale's later work is "secondary" and that poetry from Cuttlefish Bones to The Storm "describes a complete arc, one of the greatest in modern literature." Galassi's edition provides copious critical annotation, a painstaking attempt to explicate Montale's "collage of borrowings." Identifying allusions (the Holocaust, Stalin's purges), influences (Browning, D'Annunzio), sources (Dante, Debussy), and themes ("Crowds in Montale always carry infernal associations"), Galassi's linguistic-textural analysis unravels many elements of the poet's voice: "a sinuous, constantly transforming series of metaphors spiraling around an elusive central core." This marriage of creative literary research and inspired poetic scholarship helps make Montale accessible to English-speaking readers. With a thorough chronology; an insightful essay, "Reading Montale"; and an index of titles and first lines; highly recommended for all major poetry collections.?Frank Allen, North Hampton Community Coll., Tannersville, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.