Bilingual edition, with translations by Assia Gutmann, Harold Schimmel, Chana Bloch, Y.A. & Ted Hughes, David Rosenberg, et al. A new printing of this large collection by the poet commonly regarded as Israel's most prominent and one of the major contemporary world poets. Born in Germany in 1924, Amichai left with his family for Israel in 1936.
| ||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Though the title of this bilingual selection recalls two recent works by Amichai ( Love Poems , LJ 8/81, and Poems of Jerusalem , Harper, 1988), it is actually drawn from eight previous works and boasts an even larger array of translators (including Stephen Mitchell, David Rosenberg, Ted Hughes, and the poet himself). The thematic arrangement deftly emphasizes the Israeli poet's constant preoccupation with both Jerusalem and love. "I remember that the city was divided/ Not only between me and you,/ When we lived there together," Amichai says, entwining the two in "I Don't Know If History Repeats Itself." That these poems are presented with no translator's introduction shows how familiar Amichai's voice has become to English readers. Despite the absence of a few personal favorites from earlier collections (such as the masterful "My Mother Once Told Me"), having the full range of Amichai's work back in print is a delight.
- Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"The kind of resonantly simple poetry that is the work of a great poet." --The New York Times
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
do you remember the taste of heartbreak? you will.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems (Sheep Meadow Poetry) (Paperback)
Yehuda Amichai's poetry is so close to the marrow of grief andlove and hope and longing that when you put down this book, you willhave loved and lost and wept with him. The rooms he has inhabited will be your rooms. And maybe, just maybe, is she isn't already, the city Yerushalayim will be your city as well. Buy this book...
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of those voices you should stop and listen to,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems (Sheep Meadow Poetry) (Paperback)
Yehuda Amichai is the kind of poet whose words and images you remember at the oddest times. He sticks to your mind - maybe because the quiet force with which he speaks of shadow and light, places and times, seasons and colors, longing and joy. Ever-present in his work are the themes of love, loss, and the harsh reality of war, but the effect is never one of violence - Amichai's poems have always made me feel peaceful and strangely contented. He is a poet for empathizing with. After reading him I feel as if I had taken a long walk on a sunny afternoon in the quiet neighborhood that I love. Excuse me for the ranting, but I can find no better way to express it. His Jerusalem emerges both as a real - and beautiful - city, and as an enchanted place where (like in the old fairytales) nothing is casual or common. He writes in the way I myself would like to write.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A cautionary note on the translations,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Poems of Jerusalem and Love Poems (Sheep Meadow Poetry) (Paperback)
Amichai's poetic voice is, as so many know, well worth hearing. And that voice constitutes half of this book--the half that is his poetry in the original Hebrew. That half I give 5 stars. My disappointment lies with the translations.
And while this book represents the work of various translators, and some poems are, therefore, rendered more accurately than others, I have often wondered why translators--here, but in many translations of other poets, too--presume to change the division of lines (where the poet chose to end and begin lines) and why they so frequently add or omit words, or use imprecise semi-synonyms or somewhat similar expressions instead of sticking closely to literal translation...changes which warp the feel of the original poem. Poetry is an exquisitely subtle dance of words; people should not pretend to be translating, it seems to me, if they are putting their own twist on the poet's work, or merely loosely conveying the general meaning of the poem. (And, I dare say, even the poet himself should not pretend to be translating his original poem if he does such things.) Examples of the above-mentioned imprecision and infidelity are so numerous in this book that anyone familiar with both English and Hebrew will, if reading carefully, find them in nearly every poem. Because I've seen how common it is for poetry to be translated sloppily, I try to buy foreign poets only in bilingual editions, so that I have a chance of catching the poems' original voice and intent. Regrettably, in this case such caution turns out to have been warranted. Read Amichai, by all means! But study the original Hebrew of his poems if you can, and judge for yourself whether the translations do the poems justice.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
