Our Great & Profane Literature: Poetry, essays, translations

Our Great & Profane Literature is a journey through the luminous and the brutal, the sacred and the absurd-an unflinching collection of poems, essays, and translations by Adrian Grauenfels, a writer who moves effortlessly between the intimate and the historical, the lyrical and the caustic. From the howl of sirens outside a synagogue-"What else but autumn leaves can be sadder at this carnage"-to the surreal humor of bourgeois fish, smoking bumblebees, and philosophers sleeping with Kant in their arms, Grauenfels captures a world that is both collapsing and endlessly reinventing itself. His voice is sharp, tender, ironic, and deeply human.The book weaves original poetry with translations of Yehuda Amichai and tributes to towering figures like Paul Celan, whose life and language haunt these pages. In one essay, Grauenfels writes of Celan's impossible burden: "His mother tongue had become the language of murderers." That tension-between beauty and devastation-echoes throughout the volume. Whether meditating on war, exile, memory, or the absurd theater of modern life, Grauenfels offers a literature that is at once great and profane: fearless in its honesty, rich in imagery, and alive with the pulse of lived experience. A number of powerful poems are signed by my friend Emanuel Pope from Britain. Finally, we have added text and images for the great visual artist Miriam Gamburd - Israel. A book for readers who seek poetry that confronts, essays that illuminate, and a voice that refuses to look away.

Pagina's: 106, Paperback, Independently published