Treading Lightly

by Reda, Jacques; Feldman, Jennie

• ISBN13: 9780856463808
• ISBN10: 0856463809
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-01
• Publisher: Carcanet Press Ltd.

Summary

The first English selection of Jacques Reda's poems draws on his earliest major collections, widely regarded as among his finest: Amen, awarded the Prix Max Jacob, 1968; Recitatif, 1970; and La Tourne, 1975. These were a formative influence on the 'new lyricism' that was to change the direction of French poetry in the 1980s. With an eye for detail and drama, his poems roam from day-to-day Paris to other times and places, striking a wry, pensive note that is at once personal and universal. They will appeal to readers who share Reda's belief that poetry lives through its rhythm, or 'better still, le swing' (he is a respected jazz critic). The music is admirably captured in Jennie Feldman's translations. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Jacques Réda was born in 1929. He lives in Paris. He is author of over thirty books of poetry and prose, recipient of the Prix Goncourt, and an eminent literary figure in mainland Europe.

Jennie Feldman studied French at Oxford. Her selection of poems by the French poet Jacques Réda, Treading Lightly, was published by Anvil in 2005 as was her highly praised first collection, The Lost Notebook. A former award-winning producer and presenter of radio documentaries, she also translates Hebrew poetry and teaches creative writing. She lives in Jerusalem.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION	9	(7)
PREFACE by Jacques Réda	16	(5)
Amen
Rebels	21	(2)
Rebelles
Frontiersmen	23	(2)
Frontaliers
The Door	25	(2)
La Porte
Homer's Sorrow	27	(2)
Tristesse d'Homère
Voice in the Interval	29	(2)
La voix dans l'intervalle
October Morning
Malin d'octobre	31	(4)
The Lost Bracelet
Le bracelet perdu	35	(2)
Afternoon
Après-midi	37	(2)
Sky Slowly Approaching
Lente approche du ciel	39	(2)
Rue Rousselet
Rue Rousselet	41	(2)
Puddles
Flaques	43	(2)
Autumn
Automne	45	(2)
Summer Over
La rentrée	47	(2)
At Autumn's Gate
Porte d'automne	49	(4)
Earth Receding
La terre qui s'éloigne	53	(2)
Amen
Amen	55	(4)
Récitatif
Rebel	59	(4)
Mauvaise tête
Earth's Books	63	(2)
Terre des livres
The Soul's Situation	65	(2)
Situation de l'âme
Letters of the Epitaph	67	(2)
Les lettres de l'épitaphe
The Correspondent	69	(2)
Le correspondant
The Fête is Over	71	(10)
La fête est finie
The Circular Eye	81	(2)
L'œil circulaire
Morning Prayer	83	(2)
Oraison du matin
Aside	85	(2)
Aparté
Easter	87	(2)
Pâques
Hotel Continental	89	(2)
Hôtel Continental
Bruges	91	(2)
Bruges
Fragment of Summers	93	(4)
Fragment des étés
La tourne
And on the stove I hear...	97	(2)
Aussi j'entends sur le réchaud...
When the lime tree...	99	(2)
Quand recommençait a briller...
From the hospital windows...	101	(2)
Des fenêtres de l'hôpital...
And again I see Janine...	103	(2)
Et je revois Janine...
Mauve lightning passed...	105	(2)
L'éclair mauve passait...
I'm looking and can't see which way...	107	(2)
Je regarde et je ne vois pas...
There was probably an embankment...	109	(2)
Il y avait sans doute un remblai...
Now humbly (knowing...	111	(2)
Or humble (connaissant...
The constellation Aries...	113	(2)
La constellation du Bélier...
Climbing the road I saw...	115	(2)
Je mantais le chemin...
On the left, the river...	117	(2)
À gauche la rivière
We are too far east...	119	(2)
Nous sommes trop à l'est...
But happy after all...	121	(2)
Mais heureuse après tout...
Towards Schirmeck...	123	(2)
Du côté de Schirmeck...
What I wanted was to keep...	125	(2)
Ce que j'ai voulu c'est garder...
And so it's time...	127	(2)
Donc le temps est venu...
Suddenly it can happen...	129	(2)
Brusquement it se peut...
Emerging one night...	131	(2)
Sortie un soir du soufflet crevé...
Poverty. The man gives...	133	(2)
Pauvreté. L'homme assiste...
With the calm that comes...	135	(2)
L'apai sement venu d'un coin du ciel...
My speaking, it's to you...	137
Mon parler, c'est à vous que j'écris...