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The Complete Poems of Cavafy: Expanded Edition
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Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Author: C.P. Cavafy
Publisher: Harvest Books
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Our Price: $13.26
You Save: $ 3.74 ( 22% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Author: C.P. Cavafy
Publisher: Harvest Books
Average Customer Rating:
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The Complete Poems of Cavafy: Expanded Edition Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 889.132
EAN: 9780156198202
ISBN: 0156198207
Label: Harvest Books
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 336
Publication Date: 1976-10-04
Publisher: Harvest Books
Studio: Harvest Books
Dewey Decimal Number: 889.132
EAN: 9780156198202
ISBN: 0156198207
Label: Harvest Books
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 336
Publication Date: 1976-10-04
Publisher: Harvest Books
Studio: Harvest Books
Editorial Review of The Complete Poems of Cavafy: Expanded Edition
Cavafy, the foremost modern Greek poet, is a master at presenting a scene, an intense feeling, or an idea in direct, unornamented verse. Many of the poems are openly homosexual. Sixty-three newly translated poems have been added to the widely praised edition which includes the classic poem “Ithaca.” Introduction by W. H. Auden. Translated by Rae Dalven.
Customer Reviews of The Complete Poems of Cavafy: Expanded Edition
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The world of Cavafy
Review: Cavafy writes what is in his heart. This complete collection is excellent and worth owning.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: perspective from a non-scholar
Review: I have only recently come to read the other translations of Cavafy's work and I still like this one best. Dalven's translation flows, the words - both in choice and placement - just seem more evocative and well-suited to the poems. Other translations seem... awkward somehow, with extra words at the end of lines that spoil the tone, or with terms that don't carry the same weight or charm.
I do recognize the frustration that Greek readers must feel at the lack of rhyme or rhythm. (I certainly feel that way when I see my beloved Cyrano butchered whenever it's translated from its gorgeous, flowing, rhyming French.) But from the perspective of one who could never, unfortunately, appreciate the original as it was meant to be appreciated, Dalven gives me a Cavafy who makes me dream, who makes me sad, and who seamlessly sparks emotion. These are poems that I can read to others in English, and which seem almost like they were written as unrhyming poems IN English. Doubtlessly some of the brilliance involved in their creation is lost on me, and it could not be otherwise considering the language barrier. But honestly, having seen some of the other translations out there, I am not sure I would have even become a Cavafy fan if not for Rae Dalven.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: To the Most Audacious Amorous Desires
Review: Among the poets of the twentieth century, there is maybe one who can confidently say, "I am better than Cavafy." Yet, on a top five list of the twentieth century's greatest poets, Cavafy is far less likely to appear than, say, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop, Philip Larkin, or W. H. Auden, yet Cavafy's work can stand against any of these.
Poets tend to squabble with tired questions, faith vs. reason, contemplation vs. experience, knowledge vs. serenity, life vs. language, etc. Cavafy, the Alexandrian Greek, does not squabble. Whether Cavafy's poems are about politics, art, or love (and those on the latter are the finest), it is as if his principal questions are answered before he writes the poem. Cavafy would never write a poem depicting the conflict between seamy, audacious amours and upright society. Instead, he goes ahead and writes about seamy, audacious amours, and at the end reminds us that upright society doesn't understand, that it makes "stupid comparisons."
And all of this Cavafy does with a fleeting tone (a la John Keats) that appears to be chiseled into marble (a la Ovid), at once the slightest and weightiest thing you've ever read.
Positively a must read and must own for any self-respecting poetry enthusiast.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: life reality
Review: candles ithaca speaks and compering for life it is amazing.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A note on the translation
Review: This review is not about the work of Cavafy itself, which I love, but a comment on the translation. Many critics have complained that a great deal is lost in a translation of Cavafy, particularly some of the linguistic and stylistic craftsmanship, and that is true of any translation of a poet. However, I believe the tone or the mood of poems, so important in a poet like Cavafy, are underemphasized, and if a translation is capable of conveying them with profundity, it is commendable; and in this respect the Rae Dalven translation is far superior to the Keeley/Sherrard and the Theoharis translations I have read, and the only one worth returning to - it remains evocative where the others seem to miss the pitch, sounding flat or overdone.
Review Summary: The world of Cavafy
Review: Cavafy writes what is in his heart. This complete collection is excellent and worth owning.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: perspective from a non-scholar
Review: I have only recently come to read the other translations of Cavafy's work and I still like this one best. Dalven's translation flows, the words - both in choice and placement - just seem more evocative and well-suited to the poems. Other translations seem... awkward somehow, with extra words at the end of lines that spoil the tone, or with terms that don't carry the same weight or charm.
I do recognize the frustration that Greek readers must feel at the lack of rhyme or rhythm. (I certainly feel that way when I see my beloved Cyrano butchered whenever it's translated from its gorgeous, flowing, rhyming French.) But from the perspective of one who could never, unfortunately, appreciate the original as it was meant to be appreciated, Dalven gives me a Cavafy who makes me dream, who makes me sad, and who seamlessly sparks emotion. These are poems that I can read to others in English, and which seem almost like they were written as unrhyming poems IN English. Doubtlessly some of the brilliance involved in their creation is lost on me, and it could not be otherwise considering the language barrier. But honestly, having seen some of the other translations out there, I am not sure I would have even become a Cavafy fan if not for Rae Dalven.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: To the Most Audacious Amorous Desires
Review: Among the poets of the twentieth century, there is maybe one who can confidently say, "I am better than Cavafy." Yet, on a top five list of the twentieth century's greatest poets, Cavafy is far less likely to appear than, say, Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, Elizabeth Bishop, Philip Larkin, or W. H. Auden, yet Cavafy's work can stand against any of these.
Poets tend to squabble with tired questions, faith vs. reason, contemplation vs. experience, knowledge vs. serenity, life vs. language, etc. Cavafy, the Alexandrian Greek, does not squabble. Whether Cavafy's poems are about politics, art, or love (and those on the latter are the finest), it is as if his principal questions are answered before he writes the poem. Cavafy would never write a poem depicting the conflict between seamy, audacious amours and upright society. Instead, he goes ahead and writes about seamy, audacious amours, and at the end reminds us that upright society doesn't understand, that it makes "stupid comparisons."
And all of this Cavafy does with a fleeting tone (a la John Keats) that appears to be chiseled into marble (a la Ovid), at once the slightest and weightiest thing you've ever read.
Positively a must read and must own for any self-respecting poetry enthusiast.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: life reality
Review: candles ithaca speaks and compering for life it is amazing.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A note on the translation
Review: This review is not about the work of Cavafy itself, which I love, but a comment on the translation. Many critics have complained that a great deal is lost in a translation of Cavafy, particularly some of the linguistic and stylistic craftsmanship, and that is true of any translation of a poet. However, I believe the tone or the mood of poems, so important in a poet like Cavafy, are underemphasized, and if a translation is capable of conveying them with profundity, it is commendable; and in this respect the Rae Dalven translation is far superior to the Keeley/Sherrard and the Theoharis translations I have read, and the only one worth returning to - it remains evocative where the others seem to miss the pitch, sounding flat or overdone.