Life Sentence: Selected Poems

From Library Journal\nCassian has been one of Rumania's leading literary figures for over 40 years. Since 1985 she has lived in exile in the United States. A poem by Cassian (nee Renee Annie Stefanescu in 1924) is an occasion for probing what it means to be human. She writes poems (here translated by Stanley Kunitz, Richard Wilbur, Dana Gioia, and 17 other poets) that are half fable, half dissection. Her "flawless instinct" leads her to empathize with animals--kiwi birds, oxen, swans, elephants--that are energized by the ethnic vitality of Rumanian folklore. Just as Rumania is a crossroads between Western cosmopolitanism and Slavic culture, Cassian's poetry balances a semi-surreal vision ("a tree with a mustache,/ a child with a cardboard leg") with a humor that deflates excesses of romance. An intense poet of many metamorphoses, "uprooted from landscapes,/ with an unprepared soul," Cassian carries on the modern Rumanian literary tradition of Tudor Arghezi and Eugene Ionesco.
- Frank Allen, Regents Coll., Albany, N.Y.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nLanguage Notes\nText: English, Romanian (translation)