Customer Reviews (3)

"Restore to them ..."
Few poets possess the vocabulary & intelligence to support their passion. René Char is one of those few. As when faced with the work of Paul Celan, Katie Schaag, Ghérasim Luca or Zbigniew Herbert, I am in awe of the mastery of language & vision ... & the only words that leave my eyelashes are "everything" & "beautiful" ...

Char the Obscure
Unfortunately, Rene Char is not as widely known as he should be. It would be insufficient to merely deem him a surrealist or an incarnation of Rimbaud's genius,so it must be known that his world of poetry is slightly beyond any established form or category. His poems combine nature, beauty, and absurdity, to the point where distinctions decline and sentences seemingly tremble with their newfound power. In many lines of his poems, the disorder present in all minds makes its presence known and by some strange beauteous force, what one is resolved to call confusion, Char, creates, or rather uncovers as an inherent recognition.

A rare view into a great French poet's oevre
Though highly respected by the International Avant Garde, Rene Char's poetry is not as widely available in English translation as it should be. Part of this is probably due to a reputation for obscurity or difficulty. But, as this volume shows this, has been exagerated. There are many poems of amazing simplicity - not to mention beauty. As this selection contains poems from all periods of Char's life one is able to make a full assessment.

Char wrote mainly prose poems and free verse. He had a gift for imagery that is often conveyed lyrically, though this is fractured by occasional violence. Many also have a zen-like simplicity and compression. This is especially so in nature poems such as "the Swift" or "the First Moments" . This violence is often elemental but also revalatory. This makes for an interesting contrast with the English poet, Ted Hughes. Except Char believes that human beings should engage with nature both by being friend and opponent rather than just resigning to it.

Char's vision is essentially that of the great Tao, or the Unknown as he calls it. He sums this up with the phrase "How can we live without the unknown before us?" This also appears in many of his very sensual love/muse poems. As with Graves, connection with women has an almost mystical significance for Char. There is a particularly beautiful prose piece about an encounter with a woman on the Paris Metro. This, to him is confirmation that he is in full connection with reality at that moment. A confirmation of his strong sense of vocation.

The translations are placed along side the French originals. For readers with some French this will help navigate some of Char's difficulties of phrase. For those with no French, the translations are usually good in their own right, some outstanding. Perhaps predictably the best of these are by outstanding poets in their own right such as James Wright, WS Merwin and William Carlos Willaims. But all give a good flavour of the this great poet and none are bad.

This collection is essential for all those curious about Char. A voice with much to say in our time who deserves wider circulation amongst English readers. ... Read more

Product Description

Admired by Heidegger for the profundity of his poetic philosophy, Char (1907-1988) was also a hero of the French Resistance and in the 1960s a militant anti-nuclear protester. For a time associated with the Surrealist movement, his poetry later changed to work that confronted major moral, political, and artistic concerns of the 20th century. The exquisite translations by Susanne Dubroff maintain the simplicity of vision and expression that link Char to the poet-philosophers of ancient Greece. Presented side by side in French and in English, the book offers a comprehensive selection of work that spans the life of this great poet and will be a valuable additon to the libraries of both readers and students of either language.

Customer Reviews (3)

Allow me to referee
As a fan of the work of René Char, I was initially excited to learn that a new translation of his work was available in English. Upon a closer look at Ms. Dubroff's translations, however, I was dissappointed and I was nearly moved to express my views here. I then saw that another person shared my views (Mike Gabrieli) and had submitted a review so I didn't feel a need to beat the proverbial dead horse by submitting my own. After reading the comments in response to those of Mr. Gabrieli, posted by E Maloney, I am now compelled to jump into the fray. Oddly, E Maloney refers to "those of us who cannot read French," and then proceeds to try to correct Mr. Gabrieli's comments regarding the translations. Here are my two cents, which I hope will clear things up for those, such as E Maloney, who cannot read French. In Char's poem "Artine" he refers to a "voiture," a feminine noun meaning a car or conveyance, which he describes as "lavée et remise à neuf." Because "voiture" is feminine, had Char intended the verb "remiser," as claimed below, the phrase would have to read "remisée à neuf." "Remise" is the femine form of "remis," past participle of the verb "remettre." The phrase then is indeed "remettre à neuf," just as Mr. Gabrieli contends, and Dubroff's translation is simply wrong. As E Maloney admits, Char is "one of the twentieth century's greatest poets" and I agree with Mr. Gabrieli that all due care must be shown in presenting his poems to readers unable to experience his work in the original. Dubroff's skills are inadequate to the task. This begs the question: whose are? Some of what is currently available, even translations by prominent poets and academics, manage, despite their author's best intentions, to butcher the genius of Char. Let's at the very least not applaud paltry, inadequate efforts, lest this mean that the few prospective publishers who would even consider publishing René Char in English feel that there would be no need to do so anymore. I, for one, still await the translation into English of the work of René Char worthy of the adjective, "definitive."

A wonderful addition to Char in English
Many years ago, renowned poet and critic Louise Bogan wrote that Char is "untranslatable." Thankfully for those of us who cannot read French, there have been people willing to take on the formidable task of translating Char's work into English. What a loss it would be if we were unable to read these fine translations of the poems. Consequently, the review by Mr. Gabrieli must be briefly addressed: the French word "remise" comes from the word "remiser," which means to put up or put away and is therefore a correct translation in the opening poem, "Artine." Mr. Gabrieli substituted the verb "remettre" for the textual word
"remise." This book contains a vast selection of work spanning Char's earlier Surrealist work, where violence and destruction are used metaporically to destroy the florid langage of Romanticism, to the work done after his experiences in World War II, which changed his views and brought forth a poetry filled with moral intensity and commitment to freedom. Susanne Dubroff's fine translations maintain the integrity of the originals, and have brought one of the twentieth century's greatest poets the renewed attention he deserves.

If you're looking for René Char you won't find him here
I hesitate to write what follows. I would like to be able to believe that the boon of ANY book of Char's work being available to English-language readers is sufficient in itself. After all, as Cid Corman states it in his jacket blurb: "That more of [Char's] work is laid bare to us in English is a gift and a grace." But would such an attitude, an acquiescence, really be a service to those readers? I can't believe it is. Susanne Dubroff's translations are not simply plodding and prosaic, they're at times patently wrong. I was stunned when in the very first piece offered, "Artine," a masterpiece from Char's brief Surrealist period, I found as simple an expression as 'remettre à neuf' translated "put up by nine p.m." The phrase actually means "to make good-as-new" and no sense of artistic license can justify Ms. Dubroff's choice. And what is one to make of a translator who, in the poem which gives this volume its title, replaces a potent image of forced silence like "avec un verrou aux mâchoires" ('with a bolt through our jaws') with as pale an approximation as Dubroff's "with stiff jaws"? It would be easy to compile a litany of her ugly, colorless and presumptuous turns, but to what end? Poetry has few enough readers; when Char's name enters the spirit of one of these few and they go looking for a volume of Char's work to experience how his genius might touch their own, I can only hope that this is not the volume that falls into their hands. It represents a disservice to Char, to poetry. Look elsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
Rene Char (1907-1988) was one of the most important modern French poets. Admired by Heidegger for his poetic philosophy, he was a hero of the French Resistance and in the 1960s a militant anti-nuclear protester. Associated with the Surrealist movement for several years and a close friend of many painters notably Braque, Giacometti, and Picasso he wrote poetry that confronted major 20th century moral, political, and artistic concerns. ... Read more

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Product Description
No Tupelo Press book in recent years has earned the cascade of praises drawn by Nancy Naomi Carlson's new selection of translations from fifty years work by French maestro Rene Char. Until now, American readers have mostly known Char by his imposing reputation, not by direct experience. Fascinating in his life story Char was an underground leader in the anti-Nazi resistance and subsequently a fierce opponent of nuclear proliferation on the page this poet is pastoral and cosmopolitan, radical and deeply traditional, severe and incomparably delicate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Stone Lyre: Poems of René Char
I worked as the editor of this book, which has earned the cascade of praises. Nancy Naomi Carlson's new selection of translations draws from fifty years' work by French maestro René Char. Until now, American readers have mostly known Char by his imposing reputation, not by direct experience. Fascinating in his life story -- Char was an underground leader in the anti-Nazi resistance and subsequently a fierce opponent of nuclear proliferation -- on the page this poet is pastoral and cosmopolitan, radical and deeply traditional, severe and incomparably delicate.

Remarkable in the accolades for Carlson's success is the high opinion expressed by other poet-translators, including Donald Revell, who has said, "René Char is the conscience of modern French poetry and also its calm of mind. Carlson, in these splendid translations, casts new light upon the sublime consequence of Char's poetic character. . . ."

Poet-translator Cole Swenson observes, "Carlson gives English-language readers a real sense of Char's depth and breadth. And her masterful translations catch the barely contained drama that gives Char's work such tension and presence, while her excellent ear picks up not only the sound relationships that weave through the originals, but also their delicate, seductive rhythms." Christopher Merrill, director of Iowa's International Writing Program, has said, "René Char, intrepid explorer of the marvelous, witness to the catastrophe ofhistory, plowman of `the metered field,' stands revealed in Nancy Naomi Carlson's splendid translations as a guiding spirit of our time, the one who found in the earth `its secret blood, its calamitous stone.' And the names that he gave to his discoveries sing out in Stone Lyre, a book of encounters for the ages." ... Read more