{"product_id":"five-books-paperback","title":"Five Books - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eAna Blandiana\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003ePaul Scott Derrick\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eViorica Patea\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis new translation combines five of Ana Blandiana's previous collections, three of protest poems from the 1980s followed by her two collections of love poetry.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs one of Romania's foremost poets, and a leading dissident before the fall of Communism, Ana Blandiana's poetry has become symbolic of an ethical consciousness that refuses to be silenced by a totalitarian governments. \u003cp\u003eThe poems of \u003ci\u003ePredator Star\u003c\/i\u003e (1985) and \u003ci\u003eThe Architecture of Waves\u003c\/i\u003e (1990) chronicle a convulsed history and pose the question of how to resist the terror of history. \u003ci\u003eClock without Hours\u003c\/i\u003e (2014) marks a return to rhyme, as Blandiana attempts a courageous renovation of traditional verse forms. Her fiercely militant voice - that helped inaugurate the postmodern idiom in Romanian poetry in 1984 - has modulated over time into a new tone of forgiveness and renunciation, expressed in meditations on the fragility and vulnerability of being. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe has also written two collections of love poems which rank among the most beautiful in contemporary Romanian poetry - \u003ci\u003eOctober, November, December\u003c\/i\u003e (1972) and \u003ci\u003eVariations on a Given Theme \u003c\/i\u003e(2018) - the second of these composed after the death of her husband, Romulus Rusan, in 2016. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA prolific and expansive poet, Ana Blandiana constantly re-invents herself. Her work ultimately reflects on universal issues, on human existence itself in our 21st-century consumer society.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eAna Blandiana was born in 1942 in Timişoara, Romania. She is an almost legendary figure who holds a position in Romanian culture comparable to that of Anna Akhmatova and Vaclav Havel in Russian and Czech literature. She has published 14 books of poetry, two of short stories, nine books of essays and one novel. Her work has been translated into 24 languages published in 58 books of poetry and prose to date. In Britain a number of her earlier poems were published in \u003ci\u003eThe Hour of Sand: Selected Poems 1969-1989\u003c\/i\u003e (Anvil Press Poetry, 1989), with a later selection in versions by Seamus Heaney in John Fairleigh's contemporary Romanian anthology \u003ci\u003eWhen the Tunnels Meet\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloodaxe Books, 1996). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe was co-founder and President of the Civic Alliance from 1990, an independent non-political organisation that fought for freedom and democratic change. She also re-founded and became President of the Romanian PEN Club, and in 1993, under the aegis of the European Community, she created the Memorial for the Victims of Communism. In recognition of her contribution to European culture and her valiant fight for human rights, Blandiana was awarded the highest distinction of the French Republic, the Légion d'Honneur (2009). She has won numerous international literary awards. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaul Scott Derrick and Viorica Patea have translated all her poetry into English. Their first translation to appear from Bloodaxe was of \u003ci\u003eMy Native Land A4\u003c\/i\u003e (2010) in 2014. This was followed by \u003ci\u003eThe Sun of Hereafter \/ Ebb of the Senses \u003c\/i\u003ein 2017, combining her two previous collections, and a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. Further compilations are forthcoming: \u003ci\u003eFive Books\u003c\/i\u003e in 2021 followed by \u003ci\u003eThe Shadow of Words\u003c\/i\u003e. Ana Blandiana was awarded the European Poet of Freedom Prize for 2016 by the city of Gdansk for \u003ci\u003eMy Native Land A4\u003c\/i\u003e, published in Polish in 2016, the award shared with her Polish translator Joanna Kornaś-Warwas. She received the Griffin Trust's Lifetime Recognition Award at the Griffin Poetry Prize shortlist readings in 2018.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 352\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 8.6 x 5.8 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e April 12, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42692778688575,"sku":"9781780375380","price":28.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/5467b246df9501cc2e8dea23ea0fcad8.webp?v=1764996587","url":"https:\/\/dhl-adrianne.myshopify.com\/products\/five-books-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}