A quick footnote to Nate Doward's mention of Andrew Duncan's versions of
Thomas Kling. I've not actually seen these translations but I do have all of
Kling's books in German and can assure you all that, if you have sufficient
German,
they are terrific.
There appears to be something a renaissance in *innovative* (or whatever the
acceptable term is right now) German poetry after many sterile years and
Kling is in the vanguard of that together with a few other singular figures.
The list would include Wulf Kirsten (older generation, from the old DDR),
Ulrike Draesner, Raoul Schrott (Austrian - a couple of poems in the
September issue of Stand, Brigitte Oleschinski (also in Stand) and Franz
Josef Czernin. Kirsten in particular is astonishing and, I suspect,
untranslatable.
Official cultural circles in Germany would have you believe that Durs
Gruenbein (also ex-DDR) is the big new poobah but, although he's not a bad
poet, he is nowhere near as interesting as those mentioned above.
Tony Frazer
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