Sutzkever, Avrom

The Full Pomegranate: Poems of Avrom Sutzkever

ISBN: 9781438472508
Albany, NY: Excelsior Editions/State University of New York Press, 2019. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed & signed to Allen Tobias by translator Richard J. Fein. "Yiddish writer Avrom Sutzkever (1913-2010) was described by the New York Times as "the greatest poet of the Holocaust." Born in present-day Belarus, Sutzkever spent his childhood as a war refugee in Siberia, returned to Poland to participate in the interwar flourishing of Yiddish culture, was confined to the Vilna ghetto during the Nazi occupation, escaped to join the Jewish partisans, and settled in the new state of Israel after the war. Personal and political, mystical and national, his body of work, including more than two dozen volumes of poetry, several of stories, and a memoir, demonstrated the ways in which Yiddish creativity simultaneously balanced the imperatives of mourning and revival after the Holocaust." (from back cover) A selection of poems spanning the long, eventful career of Avrom Sutzkever, whose life & work coincided with the most tragic & glorious events in twentieth-century Jewish history. The poems appear in English translation opposite the original Yiddish (in which Hebrew letters are used). The poems have been selected & translated into English by Richard J. Fein (b. 1929), the distinguished & prolific translator, literary critic & Emeritus Academician at SUNY, the publisher of this volume. With an introduction by Justin Cammy, the acclaimed literary & cultural historian specializing in Yiddish at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Trade-format softcover original, first edition, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. On first leaf of laudatory statements just above the title "Praise for The Full Pomegranate" at upper margin/edge, Fein has hand-written & signed in bold black felt-tip ink: "For Allen/ friend and close reader,/ (signed) Richard." "Allen" is Allen Tobias, assistant to Allen Ginsberg beginning in the 1960s, writer, critic, all-around Man of Letters & our esteemed colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu), & from whose collection we obtained this. A most important & rewarding collectible in the canon of Yiddish literature, greatly enriched by its venerable translator's inscription & signature, along with distinguished association & provenance. In very fine condition with only a touch of rubbing, faint scratching to front, back covers & spine; a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; sparse rubbing, scratching & light spotting to edges of text block. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps, creases at corners of a few page leaves. Very Fine. [Item #5575]

Price: $40.00 save 20% $32.00