{"product_id":"lighthouse-for-the-drowning","title":"Lighthouse for the Drowning","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eOn \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eTrack for Journal\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e List of \u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eTen of the Most Anticipated Poetry Collections by People of Color in 2017\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePresented bilingually, this first US publication of Jawdat Fakhreddine—one of the major Lebanese names in modern Arabic poetry—establishes a revolutionary dialogue between international, modernist values and the Arabic tradition. Fakhreddine’s unique voice is a breakthrough for the poetic language of his generation—an approach that presents poetry as a beacon, a lighthouse that both opposes and penetrates all forms of darkness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eNight\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe dearest thing to me was the garden in prayer,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eas it bid the setting sun farewell.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eIt slid out of one dress and into another,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ea fragrance quivering like visions in its robes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAnd I,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003edid I witness or disintegrate?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI cannot say.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eVisions are but trances.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI feel myself slacken bit by bit.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eCome, then, oh night.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSoon we will begin our ritual.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou will take me under your robes in diffidence, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eand you will be as tender as you can,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ebut sleep will soon defeat you.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou will abandon the temptations I have set for you:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ea book, a glass, a pack of cigarettes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou will despair of me at midnight,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethrowing yourself into a fatigue of ash,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eand I will remain behind with my insomnia.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eLighthouse for the Drowning \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“‘\u003c\/span\u003eWords . . . are the lost homeland,\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e Jawdat Fakhreddine claims in his ruthlessly self-scrutinizing \u003cem\u003eLighthouse for the Drowning\u003c\/em\u003e. Like Paul Celan and Taduesz Rozewicz, words are not the way back to what’s been lost, but rather they comprise the very \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003erubble and remains\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e of their losses. They carry as well the echoes of the \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eguiding voices\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e that \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003ehave died.\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e Fakhreddine\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es dilemma, like Celan\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es and Rozewicz\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es, is to know what feelings and perceptions to trust. As a result, out of his lost Lebanon, out of his disillusionment in politics, he finds a spirit in poetry \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003ethat flows from deep and rises effortlessly \/ to flicker like the passing sky.' If this sounds evanescent, it\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es not because the constant pressure of his lost homeland and of words seek to countermand any hope of finding a way out of history\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es dark and confusing labyrinth. Written twenty years ago, \u003cem\u003eLighthouse for the Drowning\u003c\/em\u003e is a clear and concise description of the present.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMichael Collier\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eLighthouse for the Drowning\u003c\/em\u003e brings to the attention of an Anglophone readership a complete poetry collection (published for the first time in Arabic in 1996) by the prominent Lebanese poet and critic, Jawdat Fakhreddine. In the detailed Introduction to the translated collection (the first translator being the poet\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es own daughter), the collection is deftly situated within a context that lies between the tradition of pre-modern Arabic poetry and the quest for modernity, the combination of these two sources of inspiration being a pertinent aspect of the poet’s own muse. The language and sound of the original verse is described as being \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003esimple and intimate,\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e but a reading of the collection, whether in its original Arabic or in this accomplished translation, makes it abundantly clear that those qualities are an intrinsic part of the poet\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es aspiration to forge his own path within the variegated contexts of modern Arabic poetic creativity. The challenges inherent in the process of translation, translating poetry in general and this particular collection in particular, are also discussed—the preparation of an original \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eliteral\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e version by the native-speaker of Arabic, the process of \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003ecarrying across\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e the ideas and images of that version into another cultural context, and the difficult task of reconciling the two. The resulting English version of the collection is a clear token of such a successful collaborative process.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRoger Allen\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2017\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":26037224521,"sku":"9781942683391","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/Lighthouse_FinalFront_Web.jpg?v=1527683290","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/products\/lighthouse-for-the-drowning","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}