Free Downloads A Crown Of Violets
* Finalist for the Headmistress Press Charlotte Mew Prize Renée Vivien (née Pauline Mary Tarn, 1877-1909) was an English expatriate who made her home in Paris during the Belle Époque. In 1903, Vivien’s collection of translations and adaptations from the Ancient Greek poetry of Sappho became one of the first works of modern European lesbian literature to be published by a lesbian writer under her real name. This courageous act was the death-sentence of her literary career. Parisian critics who had praised the mysterious “R. Vivien” as a young man of poetic genius began to snub at first and then simply ignore the newly un-closeted woman poet. Even in the face of ridicule and disrespect, Vivien continued to write and publish poetry, short stories, translations, plays, epigrams, and a novel based on her real-life romances with Natalie Clifford Barney and the Baroness Hélène van Zuylen van Nyevelt van Haar (née Rothschild). Vivien’s poetry is now available in English translation by Samantha Pious: A Crown of Violets (Headmistress Press, 2015). I think it's very rare to encounter a new lesbian poet through translation and I am very excited to support this collection in its positive obsession and literary innovation alike. If it is that we are encouraged to each become the lover of Renée Vivien through her work, then this translator has succeeded in making the poet's wishes as transparent as an invitation can be: "The nave has been adorned to welcome you aright." Meg Day, Judge of the Charlotte Mew Prize This is an invaluable collection that brings Renée Vivien to life for English-speaking readers. Émigrée and sexual adventurer, Vivien wrote poetry strewn with broken harps and beautiful corpses. Pious’s delicate but fearless translations draw out the bruised passions and troubadour rhythms that make Vivien essential reading for anyone interested in lesbian literature, fin-de-siècle poetics, or the agonies of sensual love. Kate Thomas, author of Postal Pleasures: Sex, Scandal and Victorian Letters
Paperback: 58 pages
Publisher: Headmistress Press (October 16, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0692536914
ISBN-13: 978-0692536919
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.1 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #941,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #145 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Literature & Fiction > Poetry #2872 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Themes & Styles
This is an excellent, valuable volume of poetry. Pious's translations of Vivien's poems are lucid, graceful, arresting, and accessible. This text is ideal for university teaching, particularly for those whose courses touch on issues of gender, desire, woman writers, and queer history. Its affordability is an extra bonus. I will be teaching three poems from this volume alongside Sappho's poems of same-sex desire later this semester, and I am looking forward to introducing my students to this understudied poet.
I first read these poems in the lesbian journal Adrienne, and was thrilled to find them collected in a volume of poetry. What a fantastic book, and many thanks to translator Samantha Pious for her masterful translations.
A Crown of Violets Serpent on the Crown CD: Serpent on the Crown CD (Amelia Peabody Mysteries) (CD-Audio) - Common The King's Other Body: Maria of Castile and the Crown of Aragon (The Middle Ages Series) Secrets of the Crown (Familiars) Eleanor: Crown Jewel of Aquitaine, France, 1136 (The Royal Diaries) The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament Fishers of Men: Kingdom and the Crown, Vol. 1 Fishers of Men (Kingdom and the Crown) Bone, Vol. 9: Crown of Horns The Czechoslovak Cookbook: Czechoslovakia's best-selling cookbook adapted for American kitchens. Includes recipes for authentic dishes like Goulash, ... Pischinger Torte. (Crown Classic Cookbook) Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg (Crown Journeys) History Of The Karmapas: The Odyssey Of The Tibetan Masters With The Black Crown Trim Carpentry Techniques: Installing Doors, Windows, Base and Crown (For Pros By Pros) Crown of the Continent: The Wildest Rockies Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass) Crown of Midnight: A Throne of Glass Novel The Crown: The Selection, Book 5 The Shepherd's Crown (Tiffany Aching) Liffey Rivers and the Mystery of the Sparkling Solo Dress Crown (Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mysteries) The Crown (The Selection)
