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Hydra's Heads Nora Gomringer

Hydra's Heads By Nora Gomringer

Hydra's Heads by Nora Gomringer


$10.00
Condition - Very Good
Out of stock

Summary

German poet Nora Gomringer translated into English for the first time by Annie Rutherford. Nora's poetry defies categorisation. These are poems which laugh, howl, stamp their lines. Candid, wry, compassionate. Nora tackles the darkness of Germany's modern history, reworkings of myths and fairy tales, and a 3-page-long ode to sex against a wall.

Hydra's Heads Summary

Hydra's Heads by Nora Gomringer

German poet Nora Gomringer is here translated into English for the first time by Scottish poet and editor Annie Rutherford. There is no simple equivalent to Nora Gomringer in the UK but Kate Tempest is perhaps the closest in terms of the way she is experimental yet remaining accessible and in her ability to stride seamlessly from stage to page to film to literature festival. These are poems which defy categorisation - interweaving the best of page and spoken word poetry to create something entirely of her own. These are poems which laugh, howl, stamp their lines. They are candid, wry, compassionate. There are poems about the darker times of Germany's modern history, reworkings of myths and fairy tales, and a 3-page-long ode to sex against a wall. All brought perfectly into English by Annie Rutherford.

Hydra's Heads Reviews

Annie Rutherford's translation of Nora Gomringer's poetry/prose/performance work is a Very Good Thing for English-language audiences. This work is determinedly offkilter, revelling in body discomfort, twisting to peer at lovers and history with a microscopic, often sardonic, gaze. There is a gritted effort to dissect the tongue, in more ways than one, and a hauling of national history and complicity into the present tense. She is not interested in comforting the reader and yet, for all that, there is unsentimental tenderness here, a sardonic-but-never-cynical, deeply felt joy. Rachel McCrum; Beautifully translated into the sort of English that feels utterly natural and rhythmically complete while managing to preserve the mouthfeel of Nora's inventive, electrifying German, Hydra's Heads delights with constructions such as `waterfeet' and `chimneying', `Youyouyours' and `Imemine'. In little poems and long poems, words are breathed into life so they become more than tool or musical instrument but letter flesh that pulses up and out from the page. The Holocaust hunkers near the heart of the book, not shied away from but acknowledged in simple, felt language as inherited nightmare and reminder of our human weakness. Love also blushes through the pages; sweet exhalations on a mirror or train window, the self dreaming the other in a moment which cannot be caught but is, and is. JL Williams

About Nora Gomringer

Nora Gomringer is one of Germany's best known and loved contemporary poets. In the early 2000s she was a prominent voice in Germany's young slam scene, and her background in performance continues to inform her work. Her writing blurs the boundaries between performance and page poetry, as well as often intersecting with other art forms, from film to music and visual art. She's won a number of awards for her writing, from the Jacob Grimm German Language Prize in 2011 to the prestigious Ingeborg Bachmann Award in 2015. Annie Rutherford makes things with words, and champions poetry and translated literature in all its guises. She has divided her working life between Germany and Scotland, and is now programme co-ordinator for StAnza, Scotland's international poetry festival, as well as a freelance translator. She co-founded Goettingen's Poetree festival, edited the literary magazine Far Off Places and makes comics with illustrator Beth Barnett.

Additional information

GOR011776148
9781911570448
1911570447
Hydra's Heads by Nora Gomringer
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Burning Eye Books
20180808
100
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Hydra's Heads