Customer Reviews

The Dictionary of Silence: Poems by Ales Debeljak (Witter Bynner Translation Series)

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In this slim volume of poetry, so beautifully and thoughtfully translated by Sonja Kravanja, the reader discovers both glimpses of an unfamiliar world, but also hears echos of common human experience.The blend is almost eerie. For most Americans the region of the world that is the source of the poet's inspiration is remote and strange.In reading these poems the reader is drawn in, introduced to both the darkness and the light. I found the book moving in ways having to do with the soul more than the intellect. At the same time, the language is sophisticated, serene. This reader will return, many times to these pages.

"Dictionary of Silence", the second book of Slovene poetry translated by the exceptional Sonja Kravanja, presents a strong contrast in tone and feeling to the first. Debeljak's poems resound with longing, both in the physical world and the world of dreams. Each thematic series of prose poetry is defined by a particular realm , and a wish for the peace of existential existence.

Kravanja, once again, helps the American reader to begin to understand the heart of the disenfranchised peoples of Eastern Europe, while deftly fulfilling the promise of music and meaning implicit in Debeljak's work.

I found these poems reminiscent of several of this country's greatest poets of the 60's- the sense of loss, the sense of hopelessness, the wish for something more............