Rainer Brambach, one of the most widely appreciated Swiss poets in the 1950s and '60s, was notorious for walking to the beat of his own drum, denying convention and standing his ground against popular styles and trends. He grew up in Basel and left school at the age of fourteen to become a manual laborer. He spent much of World War II in prison and in labour camps, an experience which greatly influenced his writing. After the war, Brambach began to make his name as a poet. Recognition and awards notwithstanding, Brambach remained an outsider in the literary world and lived for many years in poverty.
Marked by his disregard for material values, a profound engagement with the landscape of the Upper Rhine, and a lasting commitment to humanity, Brambach's poems are direct, unadorned, and free of pomp or ideology. His quiet images conjure up landscapes, small rural scenes, and interiors of bars and cafes. Brambach was, above all, an observer whose poems provide insights of deceptive simplicity that form a poetic essence confirming the significance of this author's voice. This collection of poems, masterfully translated by noted writer and poet Esther Kinsky, represents the first major English translation of a significant European poet.
'Collected Poems comes to us as the first volume in translation to fully present this worthy poet to an English-speaking audience. While largely forgotten on the international scene today, in Switzerland Brambach remains an important literary figure much admired for his often melancholic, always insightful little poems that present the bucolic landscapes of his adopted country in disquieting light. Concise they may be, but they leave room on the page for the mind to linger in contemplation.' - Rain Taxi
By:
Rainer Brambach
Translated by:
Esther Kinsky
Imprint: Seagull Books London Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 203mm,
Width: 127mm,
Spine: 13mm
ISBN: 9780857428370
ISBN 10: 0857428373
Series: The Seagull Library of German Literature
Pages: 164
Publication Date: 01 July 2023
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Translator’s Note Toss a Coin Life Lumberjack Bar The Greenhouse, My Abode March in Basel Snow In Those Times Day’s Labour Poetry The Axe Schoolyard At the Hoarding Paul By the River It Was Loneliness that Forced Me In the Afternoon Toss a Coin Letter to Hans Bender Dreamt Poem Old People’s Home Light in August Bistro Sung Landscape Confidence Hike There Will Be Richterswil I Richterswil II Brief Note Le Lavandou Moon Late Morning Friends Merriment in the Garden Achim Raabe The Wind Break Summer Sunday The Tree Dog Days Evil Tricks Report from the Garden One Day among Many Brooding Summer Indentity Card Day in July Encounter Granite Sant Eremo Under Apple Trees Tiredness Portrait of a Young Man The Erratic Rock In July and August Embassy Words for W. Belated Icarus No One Will Come Salt Death of a Centaur Endangered Landscape Single Men Organic Fault Ironing The Stranger The End of Something Visit in M. Setting Sail Southern Town The Gingko Leaf Poem for Frank You beside Me Coming Home A Leaf in Memory of September Hard Times for Drinkers Back Then In the Vineyard Goodbye to the Eiffel Shots Promenade Beyond Rijeka Black Forest Athletics for Hares Health Lucky Charms Departure Late in the Evening Cold Traces Dark Day Flight Time Straw Flowers at Farewell Pigeons When Sleep Is All I Long for Hotel Room Caution Should Be Called for Everyday Also in April ‘The year still young…’ ‘No sweet green glade…’ ‘As it has been raining…’ ‘My ancestors never left…’ ‘So many wonders in this world…’ ‘Dust is still an alien word…’ ‘The ribbon blue as Mörike saw it…’ ‘The maypoles standing tall…’ ‘Not strange at all…’ ‘The birds are shouting…’ ‘The evening’s still far away…’ ‘Your strength Ulea…’ ‘A stiff old-fashioned straw hat…’ ‘High noon, Sunday afternoon…’ ‘Me with my prose…’ ‘Perpetual begetting…’ ‘Summer evenings…’ ‘Not wanting to be part…’ ‘Concrete can be so ugly…’ ‘Surely the summer…’ ‘To live in a sunflower…’ ‘Fly a kite…’ ‘To write a poem…’ ‘Month of wine…’ ‘Westwind with its unspeakable force…’ ‘Taking a bite…’ ‘The rows of vines…’ ‘The cottage gardens…’ ‘Last day of October…’ ‘Free time…’ ‘Must a summer poem…’ ‘Sitting by the window…’ ‘A postcard from the Caribbean…’ ‘Ice grey, a wolf word…’ ‘My four and sixtieth winter…’ ‘Rust-red Reynard…’ ‘Picked up a handful of snow…’ ‘Ten degrees below zero…’ ‘Foehn wind in February…’ ‘Never put to paper…’ Notes
Rainer Brambach (19171983) grew up in Basel and left school at the age of 14 to become a manual labourer. He spent much of the Second World War in prison and labour camps, an experience which greatly influenced his writing. Recognition and awards notwithstanding, he remained an outsider in the literary world and lived for many years in poverty
Reviews for Collected Poems
Collected Poems comes to us as the first volume in translation to fully present this worthy poet to an English-speaking audience. While largely forgotten on the international scene today, in Switzerland Brambach remains an important literary figure much admired for his often melancholic, always insightful little poems that present the bucolic landscapes of his adopted country in disquieting light. Concise they may be, but they leave room on the page for the mind to linger in contemplation. -- Rain Taxi
