Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems | Mahmoud Darwish

Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems | Mahmoud Darwish | A Nation is as Great as its Ode

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Unfortunately, It ...

	Unfortunately, It Was Paradise: Selected Poems Mahmoud Darwish University of California Press, 2003 - 208 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Mahmoud Darwish is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. He is a living legend whose lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren. He has assimilated some of the world's oldest literary traditions at the same time that he has struggled to open new possibilities for poetry. This collection spans Darwish's entire career, nearly four decades, revealing an impressive range of expression and form. A splendid team of translators has collaborated with the poet on these new translations, which capture Darwish's distinctive voice and spirit.

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Universal, religious, political and excellent

Darwish is the first contemporary poet I have read whom I can plausibly envision being read a millenia from now. While he writes from the perspective of an exiled Palestinian, he does so in a manner that speaks of universal exile (or alienation). He writes with images and language that speaks well across cultures; the few pages of glossary provide what little may not be immediately known to a western reader. His images are arresting but simple: "A silver thread is drawn out of mulberry trees / forming letters on the page of night" or "We gnawed on stones to open a space for jasmine". He makes effective use of repetition, with and without variation. He uses the common base of Judaism, Christianity and Islam as a cultural base for recognizing common humanity: "Beneath us is Noah's flood, Babylon, broken corpses, / skeletons, temples, and the breath of peoples' cries / for help upon the face of the waters."

Poem after poem requires a second, a third reading not because of failure to understand in the first reading but because of the beauty and depth of thought held in the poem.

Yes, it would be nice to be able to read the original, but lacking that capability, the translation provides immediate enjoyment.

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A Nation is as Great as its Ode

"If "a nation is as great as its ode," as Mahmoud Darwish writes in "Mural," one of many poems included in Unfortunately It Was Paradise-a masterfully translated collection from Palestine's most famous poet that also includes selections from "Fewer Roses", "I See What I Want To See", "Why Have You Left the Horse Alone?" and "A Bed for the Stranger"-then Palestine is a great nation indeed. Darwish expresses the pain of millions of refugees who live "a present not embraced by the past...who travel like everyone else, but we return to nothing." He embodies the spirit of the intifada, where "we flash victory signs in the darkness so that the darkness may glitter," embraces the prisoner who is "accused of what is within us," knows "what the dove means when it lays eggs on the rifle's muzzle," dares to speak of love in the face of tragedy, and exclaims "you are my reality, I am your question."" -- From the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2006 issue.

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Absolutely Exquisite

This book is absolutely exquisite! I only hope that someday I can read it in its original Arabic.
Every piece included is absolute magic, but the two longer pieces, "The Hoopoe" and "Mural" are my favorites. "Mural" reads like a mixture of Eliot's "Four Quartets" and random passages by Fernando Pessoa in THE BOOK OF DISQUIET. And "The Hoopoe" is very reminiscent of Yeats's "The Second Coming."
Please read this book if you love Darwish, or choose this one as a starting point if you're not yet acquainted. It's magnificent.

The Poetic Language

I'm so glad my mother tongue language is Arabic! I've read Darwish's books in Arabic, and they were 'uplifting', and truely goes into your heart. Poetry books are supposed to be the hardest to read, you just can't pass one page without fully getting the idea, or at least have a personal thought about it.
this book is a translation of Darwish's poems, and unfortunately, it did not catch that 'paradise' of their original language.
you can pick up the book, read it, and understand it, but you will not get the idea he is a top poet. but he is, very much he is.