Omoseye Bolaji

#2

2005

Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898) is one of the giants of nineteenth-century French poetry. Leader of the Symbolist movement, he exerted a powerful influence on modern literature and thought, which can be traced in the works of Paul Valery, W. B. Yeats, Ferdinand de Saussure, and Jacques Derrida. From his early twenties until the time of his death, this great writer produced poems of astonishing originality and beauty, many of which have become classics. In the Collected Poems, Henry Weinfield brings the oeuvre of this European master to life for an English-speaking audience, essentially for the first time. All of the poems - in verse and prose - that the author chose to retain are here, superbly rendered by Weinfield in a translation that comes remarkably close to Mallarme's own voice. Weinfield conveys not simply the meaning but the spirit and music of the French originals.^ Deeply affected by the religious crisis that shook the world of nineteenth-century intellectuals, Mallarme saw his task as "the Orphic explanation of the earth." His response was to develop a symbolic vocabulary with which to explore the deepest philosophical questions in highly condensed forms. Whether writing poetry in verse (the Poesies) or prose (the Poemes en Prose), or inventing an altogether new genre - as he did in the amazing "Un Coup de Des," his final work - Mallarme was a poet not only of supreme artistry but of great difficulty. To illuminate Mallarme's poetry for the twentieth-century reader, Weinfield provides an extensive commentary, which is an important work of criticism in its own right. Here the translator defines the major symbols in the poems, elucidates many of the difficulties and complexities of the poetry, and sets each poem in the larger context of the work as a whole.^ Weinfield also includes an introduction and a bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Publication of the Collected Poems is a major literary event in the English-speaking world. Here at last are the poetic works of an important figure in modern literature, masterfully translated and presented.

#3

Omoseye Bolaji is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award, the Chancellor’s Medal from the University of the Free State, and was also conferred with a Chieftaincy title by the King of Ibadanland in West Africa. Bolaji is a well known African writer who has published lots of fiction, poetry, literary criticism, biographies, and drama. This is his latest book, containing a selection of his recent, diverse, shorter writings for magazines, journals, anthologies etc. Topics, or/and protagonists covered in this sparkling work include: DH Lawrence Lewis Nkosi The allure of Father Xmas! The National English Literary Museum (Grahamstown) Steve Biko Nigerian, and South African Writers Camara Laye Dambudzo Marechera NMM Duman Gabriel Okara Facebook Ola Rotimi The tormentone Gordon Banks Horrific Murder/Rape Segun Odegbami The Illustrators Teboho Masakala Musical Maestros Sheila Khala Relativity of poverty The Introduction to this illuminating book is written by the well known African critic and poet, Pule Lechesa.