Full Description
Translated by Christopher Pilling.
Defying Fate, like most of Maurice Carème's poetry, is marked by its fluency and ease of access. Here are poems that charm at first sight, short, seductive to the eye and ear, satisfyingly metrical and given to rhyme. Their subject matter is generally familiar to us - children, silence, death, God, the troubled mind - and is argued and developed in ways we can follow with sympathy; this is poetry to identify with, poetry of shared emotion and aesthetic satisfaction.
In his introduction, Martin Sorrell calls Carème "A poet of tact. What he says may be disturbing, but the way in which he says it remains well-mannered", and Christopher Pilling, in his sensitive and resourceful translation, conveys this absolutely. Defying Fate, which, incidentally was published posthumously, is a fascinating introduction to this intriguing Belgian poet.
"Careme demonstrates over and over of how he 'believe(s) more in the heart's dark shadow than the light of intelligence.'"
Marcus Smith, Envoi
Maurice Carème was born in 1899 in Wavre, a small town in Brabant-Wallon, Belgium. In 1918, he left Wavre to become a primary school teacher in Brussels and married a fellow-teacher, Andrée Gobron in 1924. He gave up teaching to write full-time in 1943. Author of some ninety books, novels, short stories, fables and essays, as well as poems, he published a collection of poems nearly every year from 1947 to 1975. He won numerous prizes in Belgium and abroad and, in Paris in 1972, was elected "Prince des poètes" to succeed Jean Cocteau. He died in 1978 (working till his final afternoon) and Defying Fate appeared in 1987.
Contents
Translator's preface, Introduction. Le coeur pur / The pure in heart, Il avait du ciel / He had sky, L'homme / The man, Il voulut dire... / He wanted to say..., La liberte / Freedom, Le cri de la grive / The cry of the thrush, Les illusions / The illusions, Il parlait pour tuer le temps / He talked to kill time, La meme allee / The same way, La banniere / The banner, L'incredule / The non-believer, On s'habitue a tout / You can get used to owt, La rue deserte / The empty street, Dieu et le diable / God and the Devil, Ce rien de ciel / This dab of sky, La maison / The house, Les navires / Certain ships, Les chaines / Chains, Le peuplier / The poplar, La tete / In the head, Que cherchait-il... / What was he looking for..., La voix / The voice, Le monde est beau / The world is beautiful, L'indigent / The pauper, Le suicide / The suicide, Les deux gamins / The two strapping lads, Le misanthrope / The misanthropist, Sous le ciel noir / Under the threatening sky, Le mort et l'enfant / The dead man and the child, La marche d'escalier / One in a flight, La charrette arretee / The cart's held up, Devant l'hotel / Outside the hotel, Il riait / He laughed, Que cherchait-il? / What was he seeking?, La mort de Marie / The death of Marie, Son meilleur ami / His best friend, Le collectionneur / The collector, Il se sentit devenir... / He felt himself becoming..., Le chasseur / The huntsman, Je ne sais pas si Dieu / I don't know whether God, Le soir tombait / Night was falling, La reine morte / The dead queen, Le sculpteur / The sculptor, Le portrait / The portrait, L'indecis / The haverer, La voute des cieux / The heavenly vault, Sur le quai / On the quay, Les cimetieres / Cemeteries, A quoi bon s'en faire! / What's the good of worrying!, La fermiere / The farmer's wife, Il avait... / What he had, On le laissait dire / They let him say it, Le mot / The word, Il se souvint / He remembered, L'envie / The desire, Il se depechait de rire / He was quick to laugh, Il se demanda pourquoi / He wondered why, Au cadran de l'eternite / On eternity's clockface, Avec les yeux du cA ur / With the eyes of his heart, Celui qu'il attendait / The one he was waiting for, L'ecrivain / The writer, Rien dans les mains / With nothing in his hands, Melanie / Melanie, Les cieux / The heavens, L'angoisse / Man in anguish, La troupe d'anges / The band of angels, L'aube / Dawn, Baptiste / Baptiste, Le tiroir / The drawer, Le mur blanc / The white wall, Vous moquez-vous? / You pulling my leg?, On disait / What they said, Faut-il s'etonner? / Should we be surprised?, Il ne parlait que du ciel / All he talked of..., Il mit son coeur / He put his heart, Il se revoyait / He saw himself, Le canot / The rowing boat, Le voyageur / The traveller, Le debonnaire / Seeing the good, Il s'assit / He sat, Le mendiant / The beggar, A force de le repeter / By dint of repeating it, Il disait oui / He said yes, Regardez... / Look..., Les choses / Things, Dans la nuit / In the night, Il avait eu beau... / In vain..., La faim / Hunger, Que toute une allee... / That a whole line..., L'affame / The hungry man, Ce petit rien / A little something, L'homme et la mort / The man and death, L'innocent du village / The village innocent, L'artiste / The artist, Il aimait caresser / He loved stroking, C'etait si simple / It was so simple, Le tas de cendress / The pile of ash, Il chercha Dieu / He searched for God, L'animal / The animal, Ils reclamaient / They were appealing, Il viendra / He will come. Biographical notes.
