Description
Book SynopsisKevin Jackson's versions (rather than literal translations) of the sonnet sequence written in exile between 1824 and 1829 by Poland's greatest poet, Adam Mickiewicz, are both urgent and memorable. The originals are poems of intense patriotism and nostalgia; Jackson's versions capture this and much more, including what he terms in his new companion essay, 'Mickiewicz's aching sense of loneliness and loss'. Jackson wrote in his introduction to Anthony Burgess's 'Revolutionary Sonnets' that 'pleasures both demotic and recondite abound in the pages': the same might be applied to this striking sequence. In the spirit of Robert Lowell's 'Imitations' he deliberately plays fast and loose with the literal sense of the poems, memorably revivifying diction and tone. In so doing, he shows himself to be an unassuming and masterful guide and host to Mickiewicz's original works.
Table of ContentsIntroductory Essay 1 I: The Akkerman Steppes 6 II: Becalmed 7 III: The Voyage 8 IV: The Storm 9 V: View from the Steppes of Kozlov 10 VI: Bakczysaraj 11 VII: Bakczyaraj by Night 12 VIII: The Grave of the Countess Potocki 13 IX: The Graves of the Harem 14 X: The Baydar Valley 15 XI: Alusta by Day 16 XII: Alusta by Night 17 XIII: Catyrdah 18 XIV: The Pilgrim 19 XV: The Road along the Precipice at Cufat Kale 20 XVI: Mount Kikineis 21 XVII: The Ruins of Balaklava 22 XVIII: On Ajudah's Cliff 23 Appendix 24
