The Possible Is Monstrous fills a crucial gap for English-speaking readers and scholars interested in the Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt
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Editorial Reviews
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Much the way Dürrenmatt himself reclaims in verse the psyche of the Minotaur from the ancient labyrinth, so Daniele Pantano brings down from the Alps and the secret land of bank vaults the poetry of Switzerland's most important writer of the twentieth century. The fidelity of these translations not only owes itself to Pantano being one of Dürrenmatt's countrymen. He is a poet as well, one with a real ear and eye for Dürrenmatt's sardonic imagination that is peculiarly Swiss and pan-European at the same time.
--James Reidel, award-winning translator and author of My Window Seat for Arlena Twigg
What was the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, author of The Visitand one of the greatest and most inscrutable dramatists of the 20th Century, really thinking--about life, love, drama and politics? Here, in The Possible Is Monstrous, a tremendously revealing and stimulating German-English dual language volume of his selected poetry, is a perfect place to find out. For in his poetry Dürrenmatt reveals sides of himself not readily discernible in his plays. In addition to providing English-speaking readers with new access to Dürrenmatt and his work, The Possible Is Monstrous will be of great interest to scholars of the dramatist.
Daniele Pantano's translations of Dürrenmatt's poems into English are themselves a significant achievement in poetic translation. His translations of Dürrenmatt's poems are a model of the elusive and delicate balance between accuracy and readability that makes The Possible Is Monstrous so satisfying.
--Dr. Victor Peppard, Chair, Department of World Languages,
University of South Florida
Who knew that the great Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote poetry? Fortunately for us, the gifted poet and translator Daniele Pantano (born in Switzerland) did; he now brings us the first English language collection of Dürrenmatt's fascinating and accessible poems. This bilingual edition is always lively, often touching and disturbing, as lyrics and ballads mix with love poems and social criticism. Dürrenmatt's vision is dark, more melancholy than angry, but his love of the world and its language shines through on every page.
--Peter Meinke, author of The Contracted World and The Piano Tuner
This collection is long overdue. Long acknowledged as a master playwright and novelist, Dürrenmatt is at last presented as one of the great poets of the last century. Daniele Pantano's excellent translation captures all the wit of a writer frustrated by the times he lived in--balancing at once the personal and the political to produce work that is genuinely vivid and exciting.
--Rob Shearman, author of Tiny Deaths, writer for Doctor Who, and dramatist of the award-winning plays Fool to Yourself, Easy Laughter, and Coupling
--James Reidel, award-winning translator and author of My Window Seat for Arlena Twigg
What was the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt, author of The Visitand one of the greatest and most inscrutable dramatists of the 20th Century, really thinking--about life, love, drama and politics? Here, in The Possible Is Monstrous, a tremendously revealing and stimulating German-English dual language volume of his selected poetry, is a perfect place to find out. For in his poetry Dürrenmatt reveals sides of himself not readily discernible in his plays. In addition to providing English-speaking readers with new access to Dürrenmatt and his work, The Possible Is Monstrous will be of great interest to scholars of the dramatist.
Daniele Pantano's translations of Dürrenmatt's poems into English are themselves a significant achievement in poetic translation. His translations of Dürrenmatt's poems are a model of the elusive and delicate balance between accuracy and readability that makes The Possible Is Monstrous so satisfying.
--Dr. Victor Peppard, Chair, Department of World Languages,
University of South Florida
Who knew that the great Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote poetry? Fortunately for us, the gifted poet and translator Daniele Pantano (born in Switzerland) did; he now brings us the first English language collection of Dürrenmatt's fascinating and accessible poems. This bilingual edition is always lively, often touching and disturbing, as lyrics and ballads mix with love poems and social criticism. Dürrenmatt's vision is dark, more melancholy than angry, but his love of the world and its language shines through on every page.
--Peter Meinke, author of The Contracted World and The Piano Tuner
This collection is long overdue. Long acknowledged as a master playwright and novelist, Dürrenmatt is at last presented as one of the great poets of the last century. Daniele Pantano's excellent translation captures all the wit of a writer frustrated by the times he lived in--balancing at once the personal and the political to produce work that is genuinely vivid and exciting.
--Rob Shearman, author of Tiny Deaths, writer for Doctor Who, and dramatist of the award-winning plays Fool to Yourself, Easy Laughter, and Coupling
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More About the Author
Daniele Pantano is a Swiss poet, translator, critic, and editor born of Sicilian and German parentage in Langenthal (Canton of Berne). His individual poems, essays, and reviews, as well as his translations from the German by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Georg Trakl, and Robert Walser, have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies, including Absinthe: New European Writing, The Baltimore Review, The Cortland Review, Gradiva: International Journal of Italian Poetry, Guernica Magazine, Italian Americana, Jacket, The Mailer Review, Poetry Salzburg Review, Versal, Verse Daily, and 32 Poems Magazine. Pantano's most recent works include In an Abandoned Room: Selected Poems by Georg Trakl (Erbacce Press, 2008), The Possible Is Monstrous: Selected Poems by Friedrich Dürrenmatt and The Oldest Hands in the World (both from Black Lawrence Press/Dzanc Books, 2010), and Mass Graves (XIX-XXII) (The Knives, Forks and Spoons Press, 2011). His forthcoming books include Oppressive Light: Selected Poems by Robert Walser and The Collected Works of Georg Trakl, both from Black Lawrence Press/Dzanc Books. Pantano has taught at the University of South Florida and served as the Visiting Poet-in-Residence at Florida Southern College. He divides his time between Switzerland, the United States, and England, where he's Director of Creative Writing at Edge Hill University. For more information, please visit www.danielepantano.ch
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Becoming Aware,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Possible is Monstrous (Paperback)
"Everything is dragged along and everyone gets caught somewhere in the course of events. We are all collectively guilty...Comedy alone gets at our problems." These words by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921 - 1990) explore one of the aspects of where this great Swiss playwright, writer and philosopher found his niche. Though everyone knows Dürrenmatt's most famous work for the theater - THE VISIT - and many are familiar with his other plays and essays, his poetry has eluded the general public until now, when the very gifted Swiss poet Daniel Pantano (THE OLDEST HANDS IN THE WORLD) has published his translations of the poems collectively called THE POSSIBLE IS MONSTROUS.Everyone who loves fine poetry will want to own this excellent volume. Not only is Dürrenmatt's poetry pertinent and eloquent, but Pantano's translations add a special quality to the poems. It is a match few could equal: not only is it the work of one Swiss translated by a fellow Swiss, but Dürrenmatt seems to have been a significant source of inspiration for Pantano's own fine poetry. Example: Rules of the Game In the grimmest of moments don't ask for the impossible Play by the rules Don't judge the judged You're one of them Don't interfere, you're already part of it Be human, step back We all get what we deserve You can't save anybody There's no injustice only the terrible You're what happens It serves you right Daniele Pantano grows with each publication of his, and this translation of THE POSSIBLE IS MONSTROUS is superb. Grady Harp, January 11
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