Attila Jozsef Selected PoemsAward-winning translator Peter Hargitai celebrates 100 years of Attila József (1905-1937) in this new selection of 100 poems. His previous selection, Perched On Nothing's Branch (1986), enjoyed a remarkable run of five editions and won for him the Academy of American Poets' Landon Translation Award. His translation of Attila József is listed among the world classics cited by Harold Bloom in The Western Canon. Praise for Peter Hargitai's translation of Attila József: "These grim, bitter, iron-cold poems emerge technically strong, spare and authentic in English, and they are admirably contemporary in syntax." --MAY SWENSON in Citation for the Academy of American Poets "A rich nuanced translation by Peter Hargitai. These poems are ageless, mirroring the human conditions and focusing in humankind's existential loneliness." --MAXINE KUMIN "I have long thought of Attila József as one of the great poets of the century, a tragic realist whose work beautifully redeemed the unbearable conditions of the life to which history condemned him. These new translations by Peter Hargitai will be welcomed by József's admirers and will certainly add to their number." --DONALD JUSTICE "[Other] translations of József's work are stiff and academic, whereas peter Hargitai's versions are colloquial and emotionally charged as the originals. Reading them one lapses into the silence that attends the reception of all great poetry." --DAVID KIRBY |
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Apalachee arms Attila Jozsef Autumn birds blue body boxcar bread breast Budapest burn child cloud cold cool dance Danube dark dawn dead death diamond mountain doesn’t dreams drop dust eyes face fall father fire flame flickers float flower flutter foam frost girl glass glitter glow Greek Orthodox green guano hair hand hang he’s head heart heaven hide and seek Hungarian insects keep vigil kiss Lake's Tower lard laughing leaves light listen live look Lord moon mother mother’s mountain mouth Nothing's Branch Nyugat Perched on Nothing's poem poet rage rain Red Lobster river roar rushes rustle shadow sigh silence sing skin sleep smoke soft song sorrow soul spring squats stand stare stars stone straw hisses summer swineherd Szeged tears there’s Thomas Mann tired Transparent Lion tree tremble Vienna wait warm mud washes wind winter night Yellow Grass