Pigeons and moles : selected writings of Günter Eich /

The eminent translator Michael Hamburger has provided wonderful translations of a significant selection of Eich's work. Although well known in Germany, few of Eich's works have previously appeared in English. Of his poems this anthology includes only the skeptical, doubting postwar poems produced from 1945 to his death in 1972. They range from structurally conventional poems like the "Pigeons" of the title to the ironically titled haiku-like "Long Poems," to the controversial prose poems of his final period. In these poems, such as "Moles," Eich creates an autonomous linguistic world whose meaning comes from its verbal associations and its juxtaposition to reality. This volume also includes three short plays, which are excellent representatives of the 46 radio plays for which Eich is best known. The Girls from Viterbo treats the persecution of the Jews during the Nazi era, The Year Lacertis and The Rolling Sea at Setubal deal with the inevitability of death and the impossiblility of attaining a metaphysical paradise. This book is highly recommended for general readers.-W. Lagerwey, Elmhurst College