Full Description
Before the Invention of Paradise is a selection from Steinherr's nine collections published since his debut collection in 1985. Dealing with the things that concern many modern German poets - silence, memory, knowing and the impossibility of knowing, the everyday and what is beyond - Steinherr's is profound yet accessible poetry.
This bi-lingual edition is the first full-length collection of his work to be published in the UK, translated by Richard Dove.
"Ludwig Steinherr writes with almost oriental spareness and obliquity. The idea is everything, expressed simply, as if he invites us to take up a thought he has not yet followed into any certainty... Richard Dove's translations catch the spareness and the physical shape of Steinherr's poems perfectly."
Don Barnard
Ludwig Steinherr was born in Munich in 1962, where he still lives, studied philosophy at the University of Munich and is now a freelance writer and lecturer in philosophy at the University of Eichstätt. His poems have been published widely in magazines and anthologies in Germany and abroad and have been translated into various languages, including French and Czech. Steinherr was elected a fellow of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in 2003.
Contents
Series Editor's Note, Translator's Preface, Introduction I Man kann nicht / One can't, Sage / Legend, Immer wieder - / Again and again - , Sich orientieren / Finding one's bearings, Mit einer Tute Obst im Regen / With a bag of fruit in the rain, In einem Hotelzimmer / In a hotel room, Unschuld des Steines / The innocence of stone, Aristoteles hielt - / Aristotle thought - , Stuck / Stucco, Wiederholungen / Repetitions, Vom Sehen / On vision, Nada / Nada, Der Kachelofen flustert Descartes /The tiled stove whispers with Descartes, Dieser Moment - / This moment - , Von der Wahrheit / On Truth, Das Wunder / The miracle. II Ovid ubersetzen - eine Nachhilfestunde / Translating Ovid - a coaching session, Sudliches Cafe / Southern cafe, Casa di Giulietta / Casa di Giulietta, Casa di Desdemona / Casa di Desdemona, Sudliche Szene / Southern scene, Endpunkt / Terminus, Markt, Abend / Market, evening, Operndonner / Operatic thunder, Lady Macbeth als kleines Madchen / Lady Macbeth as a little girl, SchnappschuA , Kindheit / Snapshot, childhood, Vorfahren / Forebears, Fragment, historisch / Historical fragment, Leidensstatte / Place of suffering. III Gedichte / Poems, Blick zwischen zwei Spiegel / Glance between two mirrors, Von der Blindheit / On blindness, Orte / Places, Biografien / Biographies, Im Inneren der Bucher - / Inside the books - , Dem Bildhauer Josef A. Henselmann / To the sculptor Josef A. Henselmann, Worte / Words, Manchmal / Sometimes, Finis operis / Finis operis. IV Die alten Bilder / Old paintings, Adam und Eva in einer fruhen Darstellung / An early representation of Adam and Eve, Romisches Mosaik / Roman mosaic, DorfstraA e van Het Bilt / Village street van Het Bilt, Versuchung des Hl. Antonius / The Temptation of St. Anthony, Galleria Pitti, Florenz / Galleria Pitti, Florence, Piero della Francesca malt die Schlacht - / Piero della Francesca paints the battle - , Ansicht einer idealen Stadt / View of an ideal city, Die uns ansehen / Which are looking at us, Entfernungen / Distances, Berninis Daphne / Bernini's Daphne, Vermeer / Vermeer, Tod des Malers / Death of the painter, Junge Frau, nach Renoir / Young woman, after Renoir, Grashupfer / Grasshopper. V Sekunde / Second, Zu einem Foto der Franziska zu Reventlow / On a photo of Franziska zu Reventlow, Brief / Letter, Idee / Idea, Urbild / Original beneath all the copies, Schwarze Nacht / Black night, Fresko, vielfach ubermalt / Fresco, repeatedly painted over, Von der Treue / On Fidelity, Von der teilnahmslosen Welt / On the unconcerned world. VI Hohlenbilder / Cave paintings, Palaontologisches Museum / Palaeontological museum, Homo sapiens / Homo sapiens, Vom Geist / A disquisition on the human spirit, Die alltaglichen - / The commonplace - , Foto / Photo, Fuhrung / Guided tour, Lago di Tovel / Lago di Tovel, Weisheiten fur gemaA igte Klimazonen / Wisdoms for moderate climates, Was wunderst du dich - / Why are you surprised - , Umsteigen / Changing trains, Von der Abstraktion / On Abstraction, Der Schmerz / Pain. VII Luigi P./ Luigi P., Der ferne Freund / Your distant friend, Ein Dichter stirbt / A poet dies, Nach dem Tod ihres Mannes / After her husband's death, Sterbegedicht oder Geschichte ruckwarts / Funereal poem or History backwards, Schlaf in Chinatown / Sleeping in Chinatown, Gott muA zusehen / God must be watching, Die Heilige / The saint, Les Fleurs du Mal / Les Fleurs du Mal, Gestandnis / Confession, Epiphanie / Epiphany, Glauben / Belief, Von der Unbelehrbarkeit / On unteachableness, Man schamt sich zu sagen / One is ashamed to say, Dieses Privileg - / This privilege - , Verzogerte Post / Post delivered late, Dankesbrief an Mr Laurel und Mr Hardy / Letter of thanks to Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy. VIII Einem jungen Elternpaar / To a young mother and father, Stimmen, Laute / Voices, sounds, Panik / Panic, Es ist soweit / It's time, Auf meinem SchoA / On my lap. Notes Biographical notes
