Ashes for Breakfast Selected Poems

by Grünbein, Durs; Hofmann, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780374530136
• ISBN10: 0374530130
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-24
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

Born in Dresden in 1962, Durs Grunbein is the most significant and successful poet to emerge from the former East Germany, a place where, he wrote, "the best refuge was a closed mouth." In unsettling, often funny, sometimes savage lines whose vivid images reflect his deep love for and connection with the visual arts, Grunbein is reinventing German poetry and taking on the most pressing moral concerns of his generation. Brilliantly edited and translated by the English poet Michael Hofmann,Ashes for Breakfastexpertly introduces Germany's most highly acclaimed contemporary poet to American readers. Durs Grunbeinis the author of eight previous volumes of poetry, as well as essays and translations from the Greek and Latin. His work has been awarded many major German literary prizes, including the highest, the Georg-Buchner-Preis, which he won at age thirty-three, and the 2004 Friedrich-Nietzsche-Preis. He has lived in Berlin since 1985. Michael Hofmannlives in London and teaches part-time at the University of Florida. He has translated many German authors, among them Ernst Junger, Franz Kafka, Wolfgang Koeppen, and Joseph Roth. Born in Dresden in 1962, Durs Grunbein is the most significant and successful poet to emerge from the former East Germany, a place where, he has written, "the best refuge was a closed mouth." In unsettling, often funny, sometimes savage lines whose vivid images reflect his deep love for and connection with the visual arts, Grunbein is reinventing German poetryand taking on the most pressing moral concerns of his generation. Edited and translated by the English poet Michael Hofmann,Ashes for Breakfastintroduces Germany's acclaimed contemporary poet to American readers. "Ashes for Breakfastis a brilliantly layered book [that] never becomes repetitive thanks to its almost organic sensibility . . . Grunbein's poems read as if the forces of history pressing in on the present drove them into this world."Melanie Rehak,The New York Times Book Review "Ashes for Breakfastis a brilliantly layered book [that] never becomes repetitive thanks to its almost organic sensibility . . . Grunbein's poems read as if the forces of history pressing in on the present drove them into this world."Melanie Rehak,The New York Times Book Review "Intelligently translated . . . Despite the portentous and ubiquitous death knells sounded by many cultural critics, poetry is doing just fine, and for anyone in need of evidence, the work of Durs Grunbein should suffice . . . Grunbein is a vital new voice in the world of poetry . . . Like Joseph Brodsky, to whom he is often compared, he is a serious and focused poet whose work has a depth that deserves our attention. If given the chance, this momentous volume will offer many pleasures."David Hellman,San Francisco Chronicle "Grunbein is a truly cosmopolitan poet . . . [He is] creating poetry which, however subtly, participates in and facilitates Germany's sustained attempts of reconfiguring and redefining itself in post-Cold War Europe."Michael Eskin,The Times Literary Supplement "[Grunbein's] poems have a nonchalant grace, and shine against their setting of Stalinoid concrete, drabness and dreck. What makes them especially appealing are their volatile shifts of perspective, a sardonic wit and the way they seem to limn out a whole series of potential directions . . . The unhoused quality of these poems has found as permanent and well-constructed a home in English as anyone . . . could wish."James McKendrick,The Times Literary Supplement "Younge

Author Biography

Durs Grünbein is the author of eight previous volumes of poetry. His work has been awarded many major German literary prizes, including the highest, the Georg-Büchner-Preis, and the 2004 Friedrich-Nietzsche-Preis. He has lived in Berlin since 1985.

Table of Contents

Translator's Preface	ix
from GRAUZONE MORGENS (1988)
Mornings in the Grayzone
Eine einzige silberne Büchse	2	(2)
A Single Tin	3	(1)
Trike, César	4	(6)
Trike, Cesar	5	(5)
No. 3	10	(2)
No. 3	11	(1)
No. 8	12	(4)
No. 8	13	(3)
Dieser Tag gehört dir	16	(4)
All About You	17	(3)
Nullbock	20	(3)
No Fun	21	(2)
>Nimm es an![ 22
"Accept It!"	23	(1)
Grund, vorübergehend in New York zu sein	24	(2)
Reason to Be Temporarily in New York	25	(1)
Badewannen	26	(2)
Bathtubs	27	(1)
Ohne Titel	28	(4)
Untitled	29	(3)
Fast ein Gesang	32	(6)
Almost a Song	33	(5)
Belebter Bach	38	(2)
Bubbling Stream	39	(1)
Olé	40	(2)
Olé	41	(1)
MonoLogisches Gedicht No. 1	42	(4)
MonoLogical Poem #1	43	(3)
MonoLogisches Gedicht No. 2	46	(4)
MonoLogical Poem #2	47	(3)
MonoLogisches Gedicht No. 4	50	(2)
MonoLogical Poem #4	51	(1)
MonoLogisches Gedicht No. 5	52	(4)
MonoLogical Poem #5	53	(3)
MonoLogisches Gedicht No. 13	56	(4)
MonoLogical Poem #13	57	(3)
Perpetuum mobile	60	(4)
Perpetuum Mobile	61	(3)
from SCHÄDELBASISLEKTION (1991)
Skull Base Lesson
Portrait des Künstlers als junger Grenzhund	64	(32)
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Border Dog (not Collie)	65	(31)
from FALTEN UND FALLEN (1994)
Folds and Traps
Variationen auf kein Thema	96	(78)
Variations on No Theme	97	(77)
Einem Schimpansen im Londoner Zoo	174	(2)
To a Chimpanzee in the London Zoo	175	(1)
Einem Okapi im Münchner Zoo	176	(2)
To an Okapi in the Munich Zoo	177	(1)
Einem Pinguin im New Yorker Aquarium	178	(4)
To a Penguin in the New York Aquarium	179	(3)
from NACH DEN SATIREN (1999)
After the Satires
In der Provinz	182	(10)
In the Provinces	183	(9)
Klage eines Legionärs aus dem Feldzug des Germanicus an die Elbe	192	(2)
Lament of a Legionnaire on Germanicus's Campaign to the Elbe River	193	(1)
Der Misanthrop auf Capri	194	(2)
The Misanthrope on Capri	195	(1)
Club of Rome	196	(2)
Club of Rome	197	(1)
Tizians neue Zimmer	198	(2)
Titian's New Pad	199	(1)
Einer Gepardin im Moskauer Zoo	200	(2)
To a Cheetah in the Moscow Zoo	201	(1)
Memorandum	202	(2)
Memorandum	203	(1)
Asche zum Frühstück: Dreizehn Fantasiestücke	204	(26)
Ashes for Breakfast: Thirteen Fantasies	205	(25)
Kosmopolit	230	(2)
Cosmopolite	231	(1)
Berliner Runde	232	(10)
Berlin Rounds	233	(9)
Grüße aus der Hauptstadt des Vergessens	242	(12)
Greetings from Oblivion City	243	(11)
Vor einem alten Röntgenbild	254	(6)
In Front of an Old X-Ray	255	(5)
Vita brevis	260	(4)
Vita Brevis	261	(3)
Mantegna vielleicht	264	(2)
Mantegna, Perhaps	265	(1)
Europa nach dem letzten Regen	266	(24)
Europe After the Last Rains	267	(23)
from ERKLÄRTE NACHT (2002)
Configured Night
Berlin posthum	290	(2)
Berlin Posthumous	291	(1)
Arkadien für alle	292	(3)
Arcadia for All	293	(2)
Notes	295