{"title":"Aleš Debeljak","description":"\u003cp\u003eAleš Debeljak was the author of eight collections of poetry and twelve books of essays in Slovenian. His work has been translated into English, Japanese, German, Croatian, Serbian, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Spanish, Slovak, Finnish, Lithuanian, and Italian. His latest work, \u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/products\/smugglers\" title=\"Smugglers\"\u003eSmugglers\u003c\/a\u003e,\u003c\/em\u003e translated by \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/collections\/brian-henry\" title=\"Brian Henry\"\u003eBrian Henry\u003c\/a\u003e, was published by BOA in 2015. Deblejak was active in civil society movements. He was the co-editor of the critical alternative journal \u003cem\u003eNova revija\u003c\/em\u003e and participated in the social liberal think tank, Forum 21, led by the former president of Slovenia, Milan Kučan. Debeljak passed away in January 2016.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"smugglers","title":"Smugglers","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBilingual Edition | Translated from the Slovenian by Brian Henry\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe poems in \u003cem\u003eSmugglers \u003c\/em\u003emove through rapid historical shifts and meditations on personal experience, exploring the depths and limits of comprehension through the people and geography of the Balkans. Ultimately, Aleš Debeljak\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es urban imagination creates a mosaic—intimate and historical—of a vanished people and their country. Every poem in Smugglers is sixteen lines long—four quatrains, a common form for Debeljak. This structural regularity is reinforced by a commitment to visual balance, with each poem working as a kind of grid into which the poet pours memories and associative riffs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ePaperboy\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI climbed through the window of southern light,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewhich some saw in the dark, and walked to the city\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI knew well. My pockets were heavy and wet snow\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efell: piles of newspaper were waiting for me.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAn urgent matter: whoever loves risks many forms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eof amazement. Leaves rustle, headlines\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eand popular commentaries in the upper left corner\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eburn. Accounts of arguments swarm between four walls\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eand the ceiling, between the sky and pleading looks.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThey flow into reports on hunger and the crime page,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e obituaries for messengers of fantasy and chapters\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eon the language of wild flowers, perhaps\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003elavender, definitely not tulips. I walk barefoot\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ein the foreign winter, nothing really helps, I abuse\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003emany readers and misprints, replacing \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003enews with flat rocks from the island of Pag.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eSmugglers\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eAleš Debeljak’s \u003cem\u003eSmugglers\u003c\/em\u003e is the type of poetry book that, once the reader establishes a relationship with it, is difficult to lend out or give away. I suggest this because not every book of poems is immediately understood, not every book is instantly appreciated. But \u003cem\u003eSmugglers\u003c\/em\u003e has a quiet, dazzling nature to it that I find palpable. And so a reluctance to share it is an act to protect its artistry, as if to say, ‘You may read it if only you promise to attempt feeling what I feel.’ A selfish notion, sure, but this is one of those books that came along (for me) when needed. I recommend \u003cem\u003eSmugglers\u003c\/em\u003e without question. I just can’t quite let you see my copy.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Damon Marbut, \u003cem\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e...This is perhaps one of Debeljak’s most intimate and exciting collections. The picturesque architecture of Ljubljana evokes the timeless beauty of baroque art and the poet’s attachment to it. At the same time, in the dark deserted interiors reside the ghosts of the past, a past that is unfortunately more powerful than the future.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Bojana Stojanović Pantović\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eAleš Debeljak is sensitive to the enormity and complexity of our historical and intellectual predicament.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Charles Simic\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eIn Smugglers, Aleš Debeljak feeds himself and his readers with a delicious mixture of past, present and future, with tastes of reminis­cence and expectations of the world’s new savors.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Jenko Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e[Debeljak] belongs to the group of prominent intellectuals and writers whose poetry\u003cem\u003e—\u003c\/em\u003eas well as critical, theoretical, and philosophical practice\u003cem\u003e—\u003c\/em\u003emarked the former Yugoslav cultural and literary space. The author is internationally renowned as one of the major poets of central Europe.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—World Literature Today\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2015\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420393989,"sku":"9781938160677","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/Smugglers_FinalFront_c62fd4fa-69f0-4bf2-a02a-91dcc3727f35.jpg?v=1527683351"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/collections\/155.1405618701.jpeg?v=1449014562","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/collections\/ales-debeljak.oembed","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}