Tremor: Selected Poems

by Adam Zagajewski, Renata Gorczynski (Translator), Czesław Miłosz (Introduction)

"Seldom has the muse of poetry spoken to anyone with such clarity and urgency as in Zagajewski's case. Seldom can one overhear so intense an exchange between Euterpe and Clio as in the pages of Tremor." -- Joseph Brodsky

Genres: Poetry, Poland, Contemporary

97 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Adam Zagajewski was a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. He was awarded the 2004 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.

The Zagajeski family was expelled from Lwów by the Ukrainians to central Poland in 1945.
In 1982 he emigrated to Paris, but in 2002 he returned to Poland, and now resides in Kraków.
His poem "Try To Praise The Mutilated World", printed in The New Yorker, became famous after the 9/11 attacks.

He is considered a leading poet of the Generation of '68, or Polish New Wave (Polish: Nowa fala), and one of Poland's most prominent contemporary poets.

Source: wikipedia.com

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poland like a dry fever on
the lips of an émigré. Poland,
a map pressed by the steam irons
of long-distance trains. Don't forget
the taste of the first strawberry,
rain, the scent of wet lindens
in the evening; heed the metallic sound
of curses; take notes on hatred,
the sheared coat of alienation;
remember what links and what divides.
A land of people so innocent that
they cannot be saved. A sheep praised by a lion
for its right conduct, a poet who always
suffers. Land without sting, confession
with no mortal sins. Be alone.
Listen to the song of an unchristened
blackbird. The raw scent of spring is
flowing, a cruel sign.

[Karen Douglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book till the cover came off. I carry if frequently in my purse. I use the poems as prompts and props when the days get hard. The translation is, I hope, excellent, because the language is fresh, the images sharp and surprising, the meat of it all nourishes without cloying.

In the Introduction, Czeslaw Milosz says the work here is "related in a peculiar way to the crude reality of our century" (xi). And in the deep and peculiar imagery of "To Go to Lvov," Zagajewski says that "the snails converse about eternity...," a fine connection between the mundane and the eternal. Writing here about a cathedral in Lvov, the poet says "The bells pealed and the air vibrated, the cornets/of nuns sailed like schooners...." In "A Polish Dictionary," we find "an ordinary life with its taste of water." He also writes about Beethoven and Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard and Hegel, Van Gogh. He writes about "the face of a Jewish child/fifteen minutes before it dies." Zagajewski's range takes the reader on a journey through a world minutely investigated. This close encounter with crude reality affirms the power of poetry to connect us to each other and to a bigger world than the merely lyric ego can manage. I suggest you read this book until the covers fall off. You'll be a better person for it.

[Simona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more gritty and honest, not quite as elegant as his later ones, but still haunting and resonant. I also love that it deals with eastern european history and personal experience in a very subtle and restrained way.

[Mills College Library]

891.8517 Z18t 1985