Customer Reviews

Selected Poems

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Though highly respected by the International Avant Garde, Rene Char's poetry is not as widely available in English translation as it should be. Part of this is probably due to a reputation for obscurity or difficulty. But, as this volume shows this, has been exagerated. There are many poems of amazing simplicity - not to mention beauty. As this selection contains poems from all periods of Char's life one is able to make a full assessment.

Char wrote mainly prose poems and free verse. He had a gift for imagery that is often conveyed lyrically, though this is fractured by occasional violence. Many also have a zen-like simplicity and compression. This is especially so in nature poems such as "the Swift" or "the First Moments" . This violence is often elemental but also revalatory. This makes for an interesting contrast with the English poet, Ted Hughes. Except Char believes that human beings should engage with nature both by being friend and opponent rather than just resigning to it.

Char's vision is essentially that of the great Tao, or the Unknown as he calls it. He sums this up with the phrase "How can we live without the unknown before us?" This also appears in many of his very sensual love/muse poems. As with Graves, connection with women has an almost mystical significance for Char. There is a particularly beautiful prose piece about an encounter with a woman on the Paris Metro. This, to him is confirmation that he is in full connection with reality at that moment. A confirmation of his strong sense of vocation.

The translations are placed along side the French originals. For readers with some French this will help navigate some of Char's difficulties of phrase. For those with no French, the translations are usually good in their own right, some outstanding. Perhaps predictably the best of these are by outstanding poets in their own right such as James Wright, WS Merwin and William Carlos Willaims. But all give a good flavour of the this great poet and none are bad.

This collection is essential for all those curious about Char. A voice with much to say in our time who deserves wider circulation amongst English readers.

Unfortunately, Rene Char is not as widely known as he should be. It would be insufficient to merely deem him a surrealist or an incarnation of Rimbaud's genius,so it must be known that his world of poetry is slightly beyond any established form or category. His poems combine nature, beauty, and absurdity, to the point where distinctions decline and sentences seemingly tremble with their newfound power. In many lines of his poems, the disorder present in all minds makes its presence known and by some strange beauteous force, what one is resolved to call confusion, Char, creates, or rather uncovers as an inherent recognition.

Few poets possess the vocabulary & intelligence to support their passion. René Char is one of those few. As when faced with the work of Paul Celan, Katie Schaag, Ghérasim Luca or Zbigniew Herbert, I am in awe of the mastery of language & vision ... & the only words that leave my eyelashes are "everything" & "beautiful" ...

Amazon.com should list this under Mary Ann Caws in addition to Jolas as MAC provides the preface in addition to many of the translations.

The editors fail to indicate which poems are from 1938-1944 "Seuls Demeurent" or the others gathered in 1948 as the collection "Fureur et Mystère" which is a real disservice to the reader. 1943 was not 1948 in France.

MAC may well get two things wrong in her translation of Evadné - a poem which surely requires and deserves at least a short note. For starts, this is Maubec in the Luberon district or Vaucluse. Note the connection to de Sade. The heraldics of Maubec are also amusing (4 lion's feet and a gold tower.) The stones of the chateau were recycled by the locals. Old Maubec is gone. See "silex" and Char on de Sade and "la boue du ciel". Note the four feet of Lilith in some illustrations.

In short, it is time for a new edition with and adequate TOC, notes and some revised translations, not another reprint.