Perhaps not the only (which it probably is), but undoubtedly the most important source of literary creation, the source of insatiable drinking, is memory. Writers always walk in search of lost time, as they teach us (we walk) Proust, we go to our memory to obtain the materials from which we will build our work. This primitive material, as well as a tool and a final product, is one of the foundations for the poetic creation of one of the giants of contemporary European literature (the other would undoubtedly be beauty). Adam Zagajewskitwo years after his death, now published by Acantilado, Real lifeAn unforgettable book of poetry, perfectly translated by Xavier Farre.
If Zagajewski’s work, as we have said, is based on memory, this work, written in the last moments of his life, contains elements of looking into the past, where the horizon, the end, was very near. Poetry by Zagajewski recalls and recreates key scenes from his biography: the end of his youth, his long-lost loved ones, moments of vital intensity… And this, as is often the case in his work, is also reflected in the poetic potential of being poetry, where “real life” is often hidden and necessary. from the perspective of the small but essential detail that contains it.
Zagajewski writes the memory from the lightness of the moment, seemingly priceless, so modest that it is invisible (hence, for example, in the moving poem “André Frenaud” is symbolized on a doorknob).
Thus, the reading of each poem (who will have to go back again and again until he reaches the depth of expression, the depth that the author has hidden in a formal simplicity close to the conversation) leaves a remnant of melancholy in the reader, as if everything. (which) could not be saved.
There are masterful works in the book. Some require consulting some place and character names, perhaps, but others get straight to the line of emotion, like the abyss. A provincial Roman cityalways, everywhere he concentrates his wisdom that people are born, live and die, but not happy caligula by Albert Camus: “Actually, they lived like us./ They looked at the sea for a long time in the twilight/ They sipped their sweet wine without haste/ And they dreamed like us./ They knew that dreams wouldn’t come true.”
If a poem justifies a life, it justifies a book much more. that poem A provincial Roman city. An unforgettable poem surrounded by other unforgettable poems, where the depth of one of the greatest poets of our time shines.
Real life
Adam Zagajewski
editorial: the abyss
Translation: Xavier Farre
Price: €12