The highway became the Red Sea. We moved through the storm like a sheer valley. You drove; I looked at you with love. ―from "Storm" One of the most gifted and readable poets of his time, Adam Zagajewski is proving to be a contemporary classic. Few writers in either poetry or prose can be said to have attained the lucid intelligence and limpid economy of style that have become a matter of course with Zagajewski. It is these qualities, combined with his wry humor, gentle skepticism, and perpetual sense of history's dark possibilities, that have earned him a devoted international following. This collection, gracefully translated by Clare Cavanagh, finds the poet reflecting on place, language, and history. Especially moving here are his tributes to writers, friends known in person or in books―people such as Milosz and Sebald, Brodsky and Blake―which intermingle naturally with portraits of family members and loved ones. Eternal Enemies is a luminous meeting of art and everyday life.
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
