Sunday, December 06, 2009

`They Carry a Promise'

My review of They Carry a Promise by Janusz Szuber appears in issue 18 of The Quarterly Conversation.

1 comment:

WAS said...

Extended solos in jazz force away the easy connections and predictable climaxes towards shards and dissonances that help the music find new and more intriguing connections. I get something of the same effect in this review, where you have an opportunity to stretch out your thoughts past your "3-minute single" blog sensibility.

There's a lot to mull over in one review:
- how is it exactly that "good and great poets teach us how to read their poems?"
- why are there so many excellent Polish to English poetic translations right now?
- can the quotidian really suffice when there is "no Katyn, Gomulka or Gdansk" lurking behind it?
- were Milton and Shakespeare our last poets of nobility because they were actually...nobles?
- what does a modern-day Cockaigne look like, and how can I find me some?

Diving deep into the textures, one evades resolution, and keeps the daily music of life moving.