pp xi123 1997 Demy 8vo paperback ISBN 0-7083-1336-1
`Each of the contributions touches on the challenge of
reading K.’s work, yet emphasizes the pleasures therein, and in this way the study
represents a stimulating new appraisal of K.’s creative imagination.' (The
Year’s Work in Modern Language Studies)
'This book confirmed my respect for the Kirsch poems I aready knew and whetted my appetite for reading more.' (German Teaching)
Sarah Kirsch is without doubt one of Germany's most acclaimed contemporary poets, a fact which was endorsed in October of 1996 when she was awarded the prestigious Büchner prize for literature. Over three decades of writing she has developed a unique lyrical style which depends heavily on imagery from the natural world to express themes ranging from the political to the personal. Her poetry has won many admirers throughout the German-speaking world and beyond.
In accordance with the aims of this series, this book is intended as an introduction for the general reader and as a resource for the specialist. It contains new poems written by Sarah Kirsch during her stay as writer in residence at the Centre for Contemporary German Literature in Swansea, together with a short interview and a full bibliography. The five contributions by Welsh and English academics cover aspects of her work from the early DDR anthologies of poems right up to the short prose collections of the present day. To complement these essays the book also includes two personal accounts of their reactions to Kirsch's work, one by the poet Günter Kunert and one by the literary critic Heinz Ludwig Arnold.
Contents: 1. Fünf Gedichte Sarah Kirsch 2. Sarah Kirsch: Outline Biography Mererid Hopwood 3. 'Fragen hinter der Tür': Gespräch mit Sarah Kirsch Annette Zimmermann und Mererid Hopwood 4. Zu Sarah Kirsch Günter Kunert 5. 'Aus der ersten Hälfte meines Landes': Sarah Kirsch in the GDR Martin Kane 6. The problem of Structure and Themes in Sarah Kirsch's Early Poetry: Landaufenthalt, Zaubersprüche and Rückenwind Anthony Bushell 7. 'Die Endlichkeit dieser Erde. . .': Sarah Kirsch's Chronicles of Transience Michael Butler 8. 'Es riecht nach Tang, Salz und Wahrheit': Sarah Kirsch in Wales Mererid Hopwood 9. 'Ähnlich stehle ich mir auch alles zusammen. . .': Sarah Kirsch's Das simple Leben Rhys W. Williams 10. Erinnerungen Heinz Ludwig Arnold 11. Bibliography Mererid Hopwood.
Contributors: Heinz Ludwig Arnold is editor-in-chief both of the journal Text + Kritik and the Kritisches Lexikon zur deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur. Anthony Bushell is Professor of German at the University of Wales, Bangor. Michael Butler is Professor of German and Head of Department at the University of Birmingham. Mererid Hopwood was Lecturer in German at the University of Wales Swansea. Martin Kane is Reader in German at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Günter Kunert belongs to the group of former GDR writers who moved to the West after the Wolf Biermann expulsion and is a personal friend of Sarah Kirsch. Rhys W. Williams is Professor of German at the University of Wales Swansea.
Dieser Band enthält neue Gedichte von der kürzlich mit dem Büchner-Preis ausgezeichneten Dichterin Sarah Kirsch. Neben fünf Essays von walisischen und englischen Germanisten, die Aspekte ihrer dreißigjährigen dichterischen Tätigkeit behandeln, bietet der Band zwei persönliche Beiträge von dem Dichter Günter Kunert und dem Literaturkritiker Heinz Ludwig Arnold. Der Band wird durch eine Bibliographie und ein neues Interview mit Sarah Kirsch ergänzt.
Contemporary German Writers Series
Zeitgenössische Deutschsprachige Schrifsteller(innen)