Best Sellers:

Best Sellers:

Best Sellers:

Best Sellers:

Best Sellers:

The Taste of Steel • The Smell of Snow | Bloodaxe Books
pia-tafdrup-the-taste-of-steel-the-smell-of-snow

Pia Tafdrup

The Taste of Steel • The Smell of Snow

Pia Tafdrup

TRANSLATED BY DAVID MCDUFF

Publication Date : 25 Mar 2021

ISBN: 9781780375045

Pages: 65
Size :216 x 138mm
Rights: World

Pia Tafdrup is one of Denmark’s leading poets. She has published over 20 books in Danish since her first collection appeared in 1981, and her work has been translated into many languages. She received the 1999 Nordic Council Literature Prize – Scandinavia’s most prestigious literary award – for Queen’s Gate, which was published in David McDuff’s English translation by Bloodaxe in 2001. Also in 2001, she was appointed a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, and in 2006 she received the Nordic Prize from the Swedish Academy.

The Taste of Steel and The Smell of Snow are the first two collections in Pia Tafdrup’s new series of books focussing on the human senses. While taste and smell dominate, the poems are equally about the way of the world and the losses that people sustain during the course of their lives – the disappearance of friends and family members, but also the erosion of control of one’s own existence. The themes of ecology, war and conflict are never far away, and there is a constant recognition of the circular nature of life, the interplay of the generations.

Pia Tafdrup’s previous series of themed collections was The Salamander Quartet (2002–2012). Written over ten years, its first two parts were The Whales in Paris and Tarkovsky’s Horses, translated by David McDuff and published by Bloodaxe in 2010 as Tarkovsky’s Horses and other poems. This was followed in 2015 by Salamander Sun and other poems, McDuff’s translation of The Migrant Bird’s Compass and Salamander Sun, the third and fourth parts of the quartet.

'Tafdrup converses with the living and the dead while chiseling each passing season, moment, and sensation into words as sharp as steel. Praise must also be given to Bloodaxe Books, who first published Tafdrup’s translations twenty years ago, and their inspiring persistence in bringing new poetry to new readers. If you’re not familiar with the work of Bloodaxe Books, please get googling and burst that bubble of isolation generated by the attention algorithms that have replaced roaming dusty stacks in search of diamonds.' - DM O'Connor, RHINO Poetry

'In The Taste of Steel and The Smell of Snow, the first two volumes in a new five-part series of collections relating to the five senses by Danish poet Pia Tafdrup, the starting point is this: the essentiality of taste and smell, and their ability to puncture through the isolation of the mind. In our predominantly visual society, Tafdrup goes back to the two senses which, many argue, we are un-learning. The result is that the poet does not only look at their place in everyday sensualities, but also—and perhaps firstly—prods their limits, pushes their boundaries to see how far into the spiritual they would allow her to stretch.' - Marina Dora Martino, Asymptote Journal

'This book compiles two poetry collections written by Danish poet Pia Tafdrup and translated into English by David McDuff. The poems are linked by the senses, with most referencing one, or often more of the senses, from the taste of language and tears to the smell of rain and cleaning products. The stunning descriptions of the natural world throughout both collections stood out for me... This is for you if you are looking for challenging, modern poetry in translation to add to your collection.' - Emily Kindregan, The School Librarian (Editor's Pick)

 

Pia Tafdrup reads six poems in English and Danish

Pia Tafdrup reads six poems, in English and Danish, or in Danish with English subtitles: ‘My Mother’s Hand’ (‘Min mors hand’) and ‘Whistling’ (‘Sus’) from Queen’s Gate; ‘Kernel’ (‘Kerne’) and ‘We Are Not Creatures of a Single Day’ (‘Vi er ikke endagsdyr’) from The Whales in Paris, published in Tarkovsky’s Horses and other poems; and ‘At Least One Wound’ (‘Mindst ét sår’) and ‘Goodnight’ (‘Godnat’) from Tarkovsky’s Horses. When Pamela Robertson-Pearce filmed Pia Tafdrup during her visit to Ledbury Poetry Festival in July 2008, only the first two parts of her quartet had been published in Danish, and David McDuff’s translations of those were still in manuscript. In the film she talks about their translation process. This film is from the DVD-anthology In Person: World Poets, filmed & edited by Pamela Robertson-Pearce and Neil Astley (2017). 

 

USA: Click here to order from Indiebound or Bookshop.org

  

BOOKS BY Pia Tafdrup

Queen's Gate

Pia Tafdrup

Queen's Gate

Publication Date : 29 Nov 2001

Read More   amazon.co.uk
Salamander Sun and other poems

Pia Tafdrup

Salamander Sun and other poems

Publication Date : 25 Jan 2015

Read More   amazon.co.uk
Tarkovsky's Horses and other poems

Pia Tafdrup

Tarkovsky's Horses and other poems

Publication Date : 27 Jan 2010

Read More   amazon.co.uk

RELATED BOOKS

alphabet
I Studied Once at a Wonderful Faculty
New Collected Poems
One Evening in October I Rowed Out On the Lake

Related News & Publicity

Poetry Events


Launch reading by Maria Stepanova & Pia Tafdrup with Sasha Dugdale

Launch reading by Maria Stepanova & Pia Tafdrup with Sasha Dugdale

International reading by Maria Stepanova and Pia Tafdrup with Maria Stepanova's translator Sasha Dugdale celebrating the publication of their new poetry collections -...

Read More  |  View All

cart
CART
search
TITLE SEARCH

A-Z

AUTHORS

A-Z

CATEGORIES

View Smaller Text