Full Description
With The Grove of the Eumenides, the Lithuanian poet Tomas Venclova affirms his place as one of Europe's greatest living poets, the heir to Akhmatova, Mandelstam and Miłosz. Venclova's masterful poetry upholds a vision of the world that enables us to endure the darkness of our time through his singular insights, ethical endurance and profound compassion. With classical grace, yet manifesting a deep commitment to remain a witness to the contemporary world, The Grove of the Eumenides is a collection of great wisdom.
Venclova's poetry addresses the desolate landscape of the aftermath of totalitarianism, as well as the ethical constants that allow for hope and perseverance. Bloodaxe published another selection of his poetry, The Junction, in 2008, bringing together new translations of his most recent work from that time as well as a selection of poems from his 1997 volume Winter Dialogue.
While The Junction covered poems written while he was still in Lithuania before his forced emigration - and poems from his first decades in the US dealing with exile - The Grove of the Eumenides addresses 'later life' issues of democracy, memory, climate, travel, ethics and ageing. There is no overlap between the two editions.
Contents
15 Ellen Hinsey: Tomas Venclova: Poetry of Witness and the Return of History
I
25 On Both Sides of Alnas Lake
27 To Master Radovan
29 Dictator
31 The Process of Beatification
33 Before the Fort
34 Azovstal
36 Flight
39 The Grove of the Eumenides
II
43 South of the Prospect
45 Chinese Impressions
54 Landscape with Polyphemus
55 Three Imperfect Sonnets
57 'The Stream of Smoke Dissolved in Yesterday's Air'
58 Prehistory
60 Cavalryman near Seinai
61 Beyond St Anne's and the Bernardines
63 Extra Urbem
66 Caligula at the Gates
III
69 August Elegy
71 Notes on Xenophon
74 Death of the Argonaut
76 'Tell me, what did you love? One city you left behind'
77 Mother of the Living
79 'It's not instantly clear why it comes up so rich'
81 From the Future
82 Kotor Sun
83 Eos
IV
87 Hamden, Connecticut
89 Hurricane
91 Three O'Clock at Night on the Sea
94 Syllabic Stanzas
96 The Moss of Ammassalik
98 'Leaving the subway with a pack on my back'
100 The Way to Planty Park, Kraków
102 Variation on the Theme of Awakening
104 Delft
105 To My Daughter
106 'Let the time you no longer remember'
109 Notes
113 Sources for poems
115 Selected bibliography
119 Translators
