White Picture

by Orten, Jiri; Coffin, Lyn; Hirsch, Edward

• ISBN13: 9781461169116
• ISBN10: 1461169119
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-08-15
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub

Summary

Jiri Orten was one of the great poets of the 20th century.A Czech Jew who narrowly avoided being sent to a concentration camp, Orten was hit by a speeding German car in Nazi-occupied Prague in 1941. He was refused admission to a nearby hospital and died shortly afterwards (at the age of 22) in a "Jewish Hospital" which was basically a warehouse."Jiri Orten is a powerful, visionary poet whose work has been beautifully translated by Lyn Coffin. These are poems we can return to again and again-for their courage, for their sustenance." - Sam Hamill"Lyn Coffin's translations do justice to a great poet. I can think of no higher praise for a translation than that." - Joseph Brodsky (about Lyn's translations of Orten's Elegies)"I can now die a happy man.... These are the poems my brother would have written if he'd written in English." - Ota Ornest, Jiri Orten's brother ... Howdark it is outside! What was I going to say?Oh, yes, now I remember. Becauseof all those hours I slept soundly through calmnights, because of all those loved ones who are deepin dreams-- Now, when everything's running short,I can't stand being here by myself. The lamplight's too strong.I am sowing grain on the headland.I will not live long.