The Book for My Brother [Paperback]

Tomaz Salamun (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 3, 2006

This newest collection of poems from Tomaž Šalamun is exuberant, ambitious, and full of surprises. Here the devil is encountered and understood-

I see the devil's head, people, I see his whole body . . .
he longs for innocence, as we do.
Here the poet juggles many tones, languages, and countries. Desire is evoked as both frustrating and exhilarating-
I'm watered by longing, knocking my
head into the wall, on the ground, or I burn, burn,
folded up on the couch.
And memory comes back to remind us of the laws and experiences of childhood-
Once again you are let loose in the sea
only after five o'clock in the afternoon to take
a dose of sunlight like the ticking of the clock.

At once daring and clear-voiced, The Book for My Brother is an extraordinary achievement.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though he lives in Ljubljana and writes in Slovenian, Salamun has seriously influenced American writing through earlier translations and through time spent here. Salamun's fifth compilation in English shows his familiar strengths: one- and two-page odes and exclamations that shift easily between an anything-goes postsurrealist whimsy and a gloomier attention to recent history. Like Charles Simic, Salamun sets poems in tumbled-down villages, in the aftermath of mysterious wars, sometimes writing for and about vulnerable boys and girls, sometimes casting himself as the spirit of a place: "Slovenians, with my tongue I touched your children's palm/ and pressed their brains like muscat wine. I give you// back your home." Although it has 10 different translators (including the author himself), this collection makes as good an introduction as any to an eminent, still-wild spirit of Central Europe. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

\xb3 alamun is simultaneously an acrobatic poet of the avant-garde, a circus clown juggling words and images, and a sardonically insightful Shakespearean fool. Author of more than 30 books of poetry, this Slovenian poet's whimsical and wry style befriends and befuddles readers. In this collection, he jumps from the semiprofound to the seemingly trivial and back by juxtaposing meaning-laden thoughts and images such as "I need to be a tree . . . / I need to meet an angel" that push some of his poems to the edge of incomprehensibility. What often saves readers from falling into \xb3 alamun's surrealistic abyss is his masterful handling of stanza and line breaks, which creates some semblance of order. \xb3 alamun is not for the highly literal or poetically conventional. Such readers may not have the patience to decipher "here it smells of the Zodiac" or determine the sincerity of "The writing / of poetry is / the most / serious / deed in the / world." But the risk-taking reader will revel in \xb3 alamun's exuberant style and gladly follow the labyrinthine paths of his poetic mind. Janet St. John
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (April 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156032058
• ISBN-13: 978-0156032056
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #936,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Slavic

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.