Chanson Dada: Tristan Tzara Selected Poems [Paperback]

Tristan Tzara (Author), Lee Harwood (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Chanson Dada contains all the poems of legendary Dada Poet Tristan Tzara (1896-1963) translated by English poet Lee Harwood. Begun in 1963 with Tzara's enthusiastic approval, the translations are selected from the full range of Tzara's published works, from those informed with the rebellious impulse towards absolute artistic freedom and the 'destruction' of formal language, to those concerned with the human act of struggle, and with moral affirmation. Also included is an introduction by Lee Harwood, a bibliography of Tzara's work, and Harwood's illuminating essay, "dada/My Heart Belongs to Dada."

Editorial Reviews

Review

On the prior edition: "Selected Poems of Tristan Tzara, translated by Lee Harwood, is the best collection of poems by the leader of Dada to have appeared in this country. Harwood has caught nicely this poet's blend of irony. Black humour and lyricism. (The Sunday Times (London) )

About the Author

Translator Lee Harwood has spent most of his past thirty five years living in Brighton, England. Over twenty volumes of his poetry and prose have been published to date, including his recent "Collected Poems." His work is included in many anthologies and he is widely regarded as one of the finest poets working in England today. His translations of Tristan Tzara's poems, begun in the early 1960's, became a ten year labotr of love, the results of which have been bringing Tzara's poetry to life for English language readers for over 25 years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Black Widow Press (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976844907
• ISBN-13: 978-0976844907
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the best English language poetry overview of Tzara, July 17, 2008

By 

Chaotic17 "Dadaspider" (New Orleans) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chanson Dada: Tristan Tzara Selected Poems (Paperback)

Chanson Dada still contains some of the best English language translations of Tzara. Poet Lee Harwood (a poet of some 20 plus poetry titles himself) has captured part of the essence of Tzara. I only wish the volume was bilingual and more comprehensive. Tzara is still woefully under translated when one considers the amount of writing he did. Harwood's essay "Dada my heart belongs to dada" is a wonderful, evocative mini-survey of Dada.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book, December 1, 2010

By 

Irgendman - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chanson Dada: Tristan Tzara Selected Poems (Paperback)

I openly admit that I don't understand over half of the poems in this book, but they're all amazing and evocative, and there are times when a certain phrase or stanza describes my view of the world perfectly. Tzara was great person and writer, and Lee Harwood did a great job translating his poetry. Lee's essay was also really interesting.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Distracted by cheap desktop layout!, January 30, 2011

By 

Molien - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chanson Dada: Tristan Tzara Selected Poems (Paperback)

I was very excited to get a whole book of Tzara's after only reading him in anthologies (mostly the same poems in every one). The layout of this book prevented me from enjoying it. The font is terrible, and combined with questionable letter spacing and page placement it is kind of hard to read. I'm no design purist/snob, but something about it really jumped out at me and got under my skin. So bland considering the Dada's were so inventive with type. It's a shame because there are other books by this publisher that look rather interesting, but if they are designed in the same fashion I'll skip those. Writing by such imaginative authors shouldn't come out looking like a self-published chapbook!