He and I [Paperback]

Emmanuel Moses (Author), Marilyn Hacker (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0932440371 | ISBN-13: 978-0932440372 | Publication Date: October 15, 2009

Marilyn Hacker's sharp and haunting translations of He and I give us a poet both distant and intimate, cool and burning with urgency, alienated and tender, a poet of age and youth, of casual wealth and shabby poverty, of the exile's evanescent location and elusive emotion: "Sometimes he sees his despair / as a veil / and at others / as what raises the veil." A cousin to Zbigniew Herbert's Mr. Cogito, Moses' alter ego Mr. Nobody is a quintessential Wandering Jew, seeking "nothing less than the infinite," even among the cruelties of our age.
--Alicia Ostriker

Marilyn Hacker is truly one of this country's greatest translators; her work is distinguished by technical subtlety, deep knowledge of the French language, and the sensibility of a first-class poet. Her translation of Emmanuel Moses' He and I introduces a vital, ambitious new poet to American readers. Moses' poems are elegant and complex, evoking an array of historical settings and shifting personae (from Chopin to Breughel to the hapless Mr. Nobody), often returning directly or obliquely to the poet's affection for his father. By turns violent and witty, melancholy and thoughtful, He and I deserves a wide readership and high praise.
--Kevin Prufer

Emmanuel Moses' intriguing poems range from Christ to Napoleon, medieval Orleans to present-day Majorca and Istanbul. His emotional reach is equally wide, by turns witty, ironic, poignant and self-deprecating, as he "explore[s] psychic space in all its dimensions." Marilyn Hacker meets the challenge with her customary precision of diction, her acute sensitivity to nuance and tone. Her deft translations of this "poete sans frontieres" will expand the boundaries of English poetry.
--Chana Bloch

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This beautiful translation of Emmanuel Moses does more than do justice to a remarkable writer; it simply makes of him one new fine American poet." --American Book Review

About the Author

Born in Casablanca in 1959, Emmanuel Moses spent his childhood in France and Israel, and now lives in Paris. He is the author of seven collections of poetry and eight works of fiction.

Marilyn Hacker is the author of eleven books of poems and eight collections of translated poetry. She received the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for Marie Etienne's King of a Hundred Horsemen in 2009.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Oberlin College Press (October 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932440371
• ISBN-13: 978-0932440372
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine addition to any poetry collection, August 9, 2010

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: He and I (Paperback)

Understanding history is understanding life. "He and I" is a collection of poetry from Emmanuel Moses, a French poet who discusses the figures of history through his verse and makes some fascinating deductions. "He and I" is a fine addition to any poetry collection. "Note from Burgundy": The bust burnt to ash/is more of a gossip than ever/all the neighborhood passes by/from canal-lock to bell-tower/diluting however slightly its blackness/in the season's illumination.