Synopses & Reviews
Throughout WWII, French poet Jean Follain wrote poems that revisit the provinces of personal and cultural history. His quietly phrased, brief devotions are -described as "miniatures," yet are monumental, capturing the pressure of history upon daily moments. By reducing the world to its small objects, every detail, every image becomes imbued with meaning.
This bilingual volume, celebrating the centennial of Jean Follain’s birth, is translated by W.S. Merwin, who writes in his introduction: "Follain’s concern is finally with the mystery of the present—the mystery which gives the recalled concrete details their form, at once luminous and removed, when they are seen at last in their places, as they seem to be in the best of his poems."
Synopsis
A bilingual edition celebrating the centennial of Follain's birth, translated by one of America's great poets.
About the Author
Jean Follain was born in 1903 in Canisy, in Normandy. He studied law at the Faulté de Caen and graduated with honors. As a student he was interested in history, particularly 19th century history, and in 1925 moved to Paris to continue his studies. There his life and literary beginning were quiet. His first substantial book of poems, La Main Chaude, was published in 1933. He would later publish eight subsequent volumes of poetry, as well as prose pieces.