Description
Book SynopsisUnreeling like a series of film clips recorded during a stroll through Paris, Raymond Queneau's Hitting the Streets is wickedly funny. It is also a bittersweet meditation on the effects of time and memory. Hitting the Streets is Queneau's love letters to Paris - a Paris that is always in the process of becoming obsolete. This lively, idiomatic version is the first complete translation available in English.
Trade Review'Galvin's electrifying translation forms an exemplary point of departure for the rediscovery of Queneau's poetry.' --David Wheatley, Poetry Review 'I promise you'll love this. Especially if you love Paris.' --Nicholas Lezard, Guardian Paperback of the Week 'Rachel Galvin has met the challenge of Queneau's difficult language with extraordinary aplomb and agility, finding equivalents for the poet's elaborate puns, rhymes, double entendres, and neologisms, even as she keeps intact the colloquial suppleness and playful street slang of Queneau's poetry. Hitting the Streets is an enchanting book, guaranteed to make you smile in recognition.' --Marjorie Perloff 'This book changed Parisians' view of their city and fertilised French poetry as few others have. A book of daydreaming and flanerie, it's absolutely worth hitting the poems' pavement, getting the lay of its loopy land, and sailing away.' --Paul Fournel 'Galvin has caught the verve of the language while also retaining its sound-play - a remarkable achievement - resulting in a stunning book that brings both Paris and the cultural power of language into vivid focus.' --Cole Swensen
