The last works of the last great classic European poet now
available in English. In his 96th and final year, and with the help
of the poet Jose-Flore Tappy, celebrated Swiss poet Philippe
Jaccottet finished two manuscripts-in-progress, one in prose and
one in poetry, both of which are presented in this volume in John
Taylor's sensitive translation. The first work, "La Clarte
Notre-Dame," takes off from the "pure, weightless, fragile, yet
crystal-clear tinkling" of a monastery bell heard during a walk
with friends. With this thought-provoking sound as a leitmotiv,
Jaccottet looks back on a life of writing, reading, and
scrutinizing humankind's existential and spiritual aspirations. He
sets these concerns against his equally lifelong preoccupation with
"the rise of evil in today's world," notably in Syria. Composed in
a baroque style, the verse poems collected in "The Last Book of
Madrigals" explore love. Jaccottet returns in spirit to Italy, the
country which for him symbolizes happiness and sensuality. As he
evokes amorous attraction, he conjures up Monteverdi's madrigals,
one of Dante's little-known rhymes, and Giuseppe Ungaretti's last
poem. Reinventing and commenting on these works, Jaccottet
meditates on old age, approaching death, despair, and the
persistence of love. Together, both works grapple with devastating
darkness, but as Tappy observes in her afterword, however,
Jaccottet's "greatest force" was "his perpetually renewed desire,
during the most terrifying night, to head for the light."
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