Complete Late Poetry of Jean-Joesph Rabearivelo translated from Malagasy and French into English by Leonard Fox
The Edwin Mellen Press, USA; 394pp; poetry/ translation
Jean Joseph Rabearivelo is considered to be the greatest poet of Madagascar and the first modern poet of Africa. He wrote poetry in both in Malagasy and French. His poems show a complete mastery of language and unparalleled poetic sense. This book will be a valuable addition to the poetry lovers and introduce the works of a great African/Indian Ocean/Malagasy poet whose poetic work is not very well-known in India.
Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas or Epitaph of a Small Winner by Joaquim Maria Machao de Assis translated from Portuguese into English by Gregory Rabassa
Oxford University Press; 240pp; fiction
The book is narrated by Bras Cubas after his death reflecting upon key events of his life. Written in a unique style with chapters of irregular length, the book is a masterpiece of satire. First published in 1881, it seems it was written yesterday. The readers in India will find the book especially appealing.
Map: Collected and last poems by Wislawa Szymborska, translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak
Mariner Books, USA; 464pp; poem/translation
This collection brings together poems of one of the finest poets of our times, from her unpublished works in 1944 upto her last poem ‘Map’ written before her death in 2012. Szymborska is my all time favourite poet because of her ability to show extraordinary in mundane, light in darkness, and humour in prevailing mood of gloom and doom.
