The Old Man's Verses [Paperback]

Ivan Divis (Author), Deborah Garfinkle (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2008

Adopting the persona of the eponymous old man, celebrated Czech poet Ivan Divis writes of the comfort of memory, the nature of faith, and the pain of exile. With alternating lines of earthy vulgarity and lyric transcendence, the poems in this moving collection expose the longing, pathos and absurdity of human existence. Divis confronts the ruins of the past with dark humor, and courageously awaits his final judgment. Available to English-speaking audiences for the first time, The Old Man's Verses is a moving collection from one of the twentieth century's most extraordinary poets.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After Soviet tanks crushed the Prague Spring of 1968, Divis (1924–99) left for West Germany, repatriating only a quarter-century later to the post–Velvet Revolution Czech Republic. He was old and disillusioned when he returned, so the persona he adopted for these poems hews very close to the bone—an erudite old man who, though learned in philosophy, is definitely not philosophical in the sense of wise resignation. Stupidity, perfidy, and cruelty in the face of established, widely disseminated, factual knowledge that indulging such vices brings only more misery offend and dismay him more than ever. His mournful plaints, moving, penetrating, and perversely consoling as an Old Testament prophet’s, are sometimes brought up short, however, against creaturely self-absorption; when he asks the spirit of Mozart the same question about inspiration for the fifth time, the shade explodes: “Sir, God put the fucking notion in my head.” Notice there is God in that outburst. Faith despite everything sustains the old man, too, who rages against the darkness as powerfully as and oddly more companionably than Dylan Thomas. --Ray Olson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 171 pages
• Publisher: Host Publications; Bilingual edition (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0924047569
• ISBN-13: 978-0924047565
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 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: #4,590,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the effort to enjoy, February 9, 2009

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

This review is from: The Old Man's Verses (Hardcover)

One of Czechoslovakia's best, "The Old Man's Verses" is a collection of the best poetry from the late Ivan Divis. A wide-ranging account of Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century, Ivan lived through World War II and the Cold War, and as such gives a vast and varied account through poetry. A new perspective on Europe during a tumultuous time, "The Old Man's Verses" is well worth the effort to enjoy.