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In Winter Light (Paperback)
Philippe Jaccottet; Translated by Tim Dooley
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R349
R281
Discovery Miles 2 810
Save R68 (19%)
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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'A la lumiere d'hiver' (1977) is a central work in the writing of
the Swiss French poet Philippe Jaccottet (1925-2021). Written in
middle age, it forms a bridge between the poet's intricate early
lyrics and his more expansive and meditative later work. Starting
from a direct confrontation with the raw facts of mortality, its
three poem-sequences strip away further layers of illusion until a
glimmer of meaning starts to appear in the 'winter light' of the
landscape of the Drome area of northern Provence, where Jaccottet
made his home from 1953 until the end of his life. Tim Dooley's
translation, 'In Winter Light', is the product of a long
relationship with the original, which he first read at the time of
its publication. His English version mirrors the tentative,
scrupulous exploration of being he finds in Jaccottet's French,
both its hesitancies and circular movements and, finally, its
'unblinking eyes'.
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."
Philippe Jaccottet's newest work follows in some ways the approach
of Seedtime, his recent two-volume collection of notebooks.
Similarly comprising on-the-spot jottings, philosophical
reflections, literary commentary, dream narratives and sundry
"notes," this book nonetheless differs from the preceding volumes
in that the Swiss poet includes more personal material than ever
before. Drawing on unpublished notebooks from the years 1952-2005,
Jacottet offers here passages about his family, the death of his
father-in-law and of his mother, his encounters with other major
poets-such as Rene Char, Francis Ponge, Jean Tardieu, and his
friends Yves Bonnefoy and Andre du Bouchet-and his trips abroad, as
well as, characteristically, his walks in the countryside around
the village of Grignan, in the south of France, where he has lived
since 1953. For a poet who has been notoriously discreet about his
life, this book offers unexpected glimpses of the private man.
Above all, the entries in this notebook show how one of the
greatest European poets grapples with the discouraging elements of
existence, counterbalancing them by recording fleeting perceptions
in which "something else," almost like a threshold, seems present.
In these times of heartbreaking violence, clashing religions, and a
seemingly never-ending narrative of dichotomy between East and
West, wonder at the religion and culture of the Middle East can be
in short supply. However, the lyrical and philosophical travel
writing in Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet’s Calm Fire rekindles
it, lifting us out of our ordinary locales and stories of violent
conflict in the Middle East. Jaccottet’s poetic descriptions
explore the rich cultural worlds of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and
Israel, giving us uncommon glimpses into countries so often
associated with turmoil, death and destruction. Expressing a
poet’s admiration for the ecstasies of faith and a
philosopher’s skepticism of these seemingly transformative
feelings, Jaccottet dives deep into the religious cultures of the
places he visits. ​ Ultimately, whether in his native Swiss Alps
or among the cedars of Lebanon, the same question pervades Philippe
Jaccottet’s work: How should we live? More than a simple
palliative to a depressing news cycle, Calm Fire captures a true
sense of place by celebrating and pondering ways of life through
the immersive experience of travel.
Since his first collection of poetry appeared in 1953, Philippe
Jaccottet has sought to express the ineffable that lies at the
heart of our material world in his essential, elemental poetry. As
one of Switzerland's most prominent and prolific men of letters,
Jaccottet has published more than a dozen books of poetry and
criticism. One of Europe's finest contemporary poets, Jaccottet is
a writer of exacting attention. Through keen observations of the
natural world, of art, literature, music, and reflections on the
human condition, Jaccottet opens his readers' eyes to the
transcendent in everyday life. The Second Seedtime is a collection
of "things seen, things read, and things dreamed." The volume
continues the project Jaccottet began three decades earlier in his
first volume of notebooks, Seedtime. Here, again, he gathers
flashes of beauty dispersed around him like seeds that may blossom
into poems or moments of inspiration. He returns, insistently, to
such literary touchstones as Dante, Montaigne, Gongora, Goethe,
Kierkegaard, Holderlin, Michaux, Hopkins, Bronte, and Dickinson, as
well as musical greats including Bach, Monteverdi, Purcell, and
Schubert. The Second Seedtime is the vivid chronicle of one man's
passionate engagement with the life of the mind, the spirit, and
the natural world.
Philippe Jaccottet's poetry is meditative, immediate and sensuous.
It is rooted in the Drome region of south-east France, which gives
it a rich sense of place. This book brings together his reflections
on landscape in the prose pieces of Beauregard (1980) and in the
poems of Under Clouded Skies (1983), two thematically linked
collections which are remarkable for their lyrical restraint and
quiet power. Jaccottet's poetry is largely grounded in landscape
and the visual world, pursuing an anxious and persistent
questioning of natural signs, meticulously conveyed in a syntax of
great inventiveness. His work is animated by a fascination with the
visible world from which he translates visual objects into verbal
images and ultimately into figures of language. His poems are
highly attentive, pushing the eye beyond what it sees, enacting a
rich hesitation between meaning conferred and meaning withheld.
Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. French-English
bilingual edition.
A meditation on the work of Italian artist Giorgio Morandi and its
power to evoke a complexity of emotions and astonishment. In The
Pilgrim's Bowl, Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet examines Giorgio
Morandi's ascetic still lifes, contrasting his artistic approach to
the life philosophies of two authors whom he cherished, Pascal and
Leopardi, and reflecting on the few known autobiographical details
we know about Morandi. In this small and erudite tome, Jaccottet
draws us into the very heart of the artist's calm and strangely
haunting oeuvre. In his literary criticism, Jaccottet is known for
deeply engaging with the work of his fellow poets and tenaciously
seeking the essence of their poetics. In this, his only book-length
essay devoted to an artist, his critical prose likewise blends
empathy, subtle discernment, and a determination to pinpoint, or at
least glimpse, the elusive underlying qualities of Morandi's
deceptively simple, dull-toned yet mysteriously luminous paintings.
The Pilgrim's Bowl is a remarkably elucidating study based on a
profound admiration for and a dialogue with Morandi's oeuvre.
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Obscurity (Hardcover)
Philippe Jaccottet; Translated by Tess Lewis
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R582
Discovery Miles 5 820
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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After several years abroad, a young man returns to his hometown to
seek the man he calls master. This master, a brilliant philosopher,
had made the young man into a disciple before sending him out into
the world to put his teachings into practice. Returning three years
later, the disciple finds his master has abandoned his wife and
child and moved into a squalid one-room flat, cutting himself off
completely from his former life. Disillusioned and reeling from the
discovery, the young man spends an entire night listening to his
master's bitter denunciation of the ideals they once shared.
Obscurity, by noted thinker Philippe Jaccottet, is the story of
this intense encounter between two men who were once very close and
now must grapple with the fractured ideals that separate them.
Written in 1960 during Jaccottet's period of poetic paralysis, the
novel seeks to harmonize the best and worst of human
nature-reconciling despair, falsehood, and lethargy of spirit with
the need to remain open to beauty, truth, and the essential
goodness of humankind. Translated by Tess Lewis, Obscurity is
Jaccottet's only work of fiction, one that will introduce new
readers to the multifaceted skills of this major poet. Praise for
the French edition "In its haggard sobriety, the account of this
tormented soul's monologue is staggering ...a beautiful narrative,
written in a resounding, solemn style."-La Table Ronde
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Obscurity (Paperback)
Philippe Jaccottet, Tess Lewis
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R248
Discovery Miles 2 480
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Ships in 12 - 17 working days
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The story of an intense encounter between two men who were once
very close and now must grapple with the fractured ideals that
separate them. After several years abroad, a young man returns to
his hometown to seek the man he calls master. This master, a
brilliant philosopher, had made the young man into a disciple
before sending him out into the world to put his teachings into
practice. Returning three years later, the disciple finds his
master has abandoned his wife and child and moved into a squalid
one-room flat, cutting himself off completely from his former life.
Disillusioned and reeling from the discovery, the young man spends
an entire night listening to his master's bitter denunciation of
the ideals they once shared. Written in 1960 during Jaccottet's
period of poetic paralysis, the novel seeks to harmonize the best
and worst of human nature-reconciling despair, falsehood, and
lethargy of spirit with the need to remain open to beauty, truth,
and the essential goodness of humankind. Translated by Tess Lewis,
Obscurity is Jaccottet's only work of fiction, one that will
introduce new readers to the multifaceted skills of this major
poet.
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