Despair has wings : selected poems of Pierre Jean Jouve / Pierre Jean Jouve ; translated by David Gascoyne ; edited with an introductory essay by Roger Scott.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jouve, Pierre Jean, 1887-1976.

Contributor:

Gascoyne, David, 1916-2001.

Scott, Roger, 1937-

Language:

English

French

Subjects (All):

Jouve, Pierre Jean, 1887-1976--Translations into English.

Jouve, Pierre Jean.

Jouve, Pierre Jean, 1887-1976.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

222 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; Chester Springs, PA : Enitharmon Press ; London : Distributed in the UK by Central Books ; Chester Springs : Distributed in the USA by Dufour Editions Inc., 2007.

Summary:

In 1937 the twenty-year-old David Gascoyne, later to be one of the most significant English writers of the twentieth century, found in Paris a copy of Poemes de la folie de Holderlin by the eminent French poet, novelist, translator and critic Pierre Jean Jouve (1887-1976). The following year he was introduced to Jouve, whose influence would be crucial to the development of his own poetry and philosophy. Gascoyne began translating Jouve's poems at the end of the 1930s when Jouve's wife Blanche, a Freudian psychiatrist, became his analyst.

Roger Scott provides a scholarly preface to Section One, which includes all Gascoyne's published and uncollected translations of poems by his mentor. In addition, Scott has retrieved a surprising number of unpublished drafts and worksheets of other versions. Section Two of Despair Has Wings reprints Gascoyne's translations of two significant essays by Jouve together with Groethuysen's preface to Poemes de la folie de holderlin. The Appendix comprises letters in facsimile, unpublished poems by Gascoyne, and three of his articles on Jouve.

Contents:

Introductory essay: Despair Has Wings: Gascoyne and Jouve / Roger Scott 13

Published

Gravida 77

From Sueur de sang

I 'I not in vain beheld that bitter sex' 78

II 'The sky is intimately hid' 78

Pieta 79

Woman and Earth 80

The Moths 81

Brow 82

Nada 83

The Desires of the Flesh are a Desire for Death 84

A Lone Woman Asleep 85

In Helen's Land 86

'Here the sky, the vast sky is full of gusts of wind and rock' 87

Transpierce Me Lord With My Own Grief 88

The Two Witnesses 89

From Nul N'en Etait Temoin: 'Austere nudity of the erotic Helen' 90

Insula Monti Majoris 91

Freedom or Death 92

The Resurrection of the Dead 93

When Glory's Spring Returns 95

Evening Prayer 96

'Helen's sweet laughter pierces the panes' 97

To Himself 98

From Langue

I 'During the moulting season of the formless final world' 99

II 'Ah! the poet writes only for the heavens' empty space' 99

III 'Clear light of day! Flow once more through the furrow...' 100

Uncollected

Despair Has Wings 102

'Spittle on the asphalt' 103

Mozart 104

In the Common Grave 106

Viaticum 107

Don Juan 108

From Langue: 'At so many years' distance from the day of birth...' 109

Unpublished/Draft Translations

Young Spirit 112

P 113

Landscape In Another Direction 114

Darkness 115

'O joy of so many years!' 116

Interior Landscape 117

'O terribly dark master of the deed/exploit' 118

'A cup stands silent on the table' 119

'Green is the waveswept plain' 120

'Green waters! If the rocks tumble tragically down' 121

'I sit aimlessly waiting in the ante-room' 122

Of a Town 123

Rabbouni 124

'Solitude has its own strange way' 125

'What does the dragon want? that I be fond of him' 126

Thoughts of the Reign 127

'Beneath the great spread table' 128

'Hear how on the wind that ruffles the striped fleece' 129

Guide 130

'Time in which rare youth's high hills are fixed' 131

Section 2 Gascoyne's translations of essays by Jouve and Groethuysen

The Unconscious, Spirituality, Catastrophe (Jouve) 134

The Present Greatness of Mozart (Jouve) 140

Preface to Poemes de la folie de Holderlin (Groethuysen) 149

A1 'The ascetic sensualist' 158

A2 'My Indebtedness to Jouve' 162

A3 Drafts of 'Mozart: Sursum Corda' 163

A4 'Elegiac Stanzas In Memory of Alban Berg' (unpublished) 168

A5 Strophes Elegiaques a la memoire d'Alban Berg 175

A6 Two early Jouve translations by David Gascoyne 179

A7 Draft of 'Post Mortem' (unpublished) 182

A8 Two letters from David Gascoyne to Poetry (London) 183

A9 'Yes, You!' and Untitled (unpublished) 184

A10 Two letters from Pierre Jean Jouve to David Gascoyne 186

A11 Two letters from Blanche Reverchon-Jouve to David Gascoyne 187

A12 'A New Poem by Pierre Jean Jouve: "Language"' 188

B Facsimiles: letters, handwritten draft translations and copies

B1 Pieta: draft translation of poem by Jouve 194

B2 'Helen's sweet laughter': draft translation of poem by Jouve 195

B3 To Himself: draft translation of poem by Jouve 196

B4 P: draft translation of poem by Jouve 197

B5 Tempo di Mozart: draft translation of poem by Jouve 198

B6 'Green is the windswept plain': draft translation of poem by Jouve 200

B7 'Green waters! If the rocks tumble...': draft translation of poem by Jouve 201

B8 Rabbouni: draft translation of poem by Jouve 202

B9 'Solitude has its own strange way': draft translation of poem by Jouve 204

B10 'What does the dragon want?': draft translation of poem by Jouve 205

B11 'Beneath the great spread table...': draft translation of poem by Jouve 206

B12 'Hear how on the wind that ruffles...': draft translation of poem by Jouve 207

B13 Dernier Signe a Salzbourg: handwritten copy of poem by Jouve 208

B14 'Untitled Mozart poem': draft translation of poem by Jouve 209

B15 'O joie de tant d'annees': handwritten copy of poem by Jouve 210

B15 Sanctus a Salzbourg: handwritten copy of poem by Jouve 210

B16 'O joy of so many years': draft translation of poem by Jouve 211

B16 'O terribly dark master...': draft translation of poem by Jouve (fragment) 211

B17 'Jouve on [Alban] Berg': draft translation of essay by Jouve (fragment) 212

B18 Gascoyne on the twelfth volume of Jouve's poetic works (fragment) 213

B19 'Pierre Jean Jouve. Those who today...': (prose fragment) 214

B20 Letter from Gascoyne to Anthony Dickins at Poetry (London): 31 March 1939 215

B21 Letter from Gascoyne to Tambimuttu at Poetry (London): 8 May 1939 216

B22 Letter from Gascoyne to Tambimuttu at Poetry (London): 24 November 1940 217

B23 Letter from Tambimuttu at Poetry (London) to Gascoyne: 11 June 1945 219

B24 Letter from Pierre Jean Jouve to Gascoyne: 14 December 1956 220

B25 Letter from Pierre Jean Jouve to Gascoyne: 5 February 1957 221

B26 Letter from Blanche Reverchon Jouve to Gascoyne: no date (?1947) 222.

ISBN:

1904634400

9781904634409

OCLC:

137313723