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Poker
Debiutant poetry book of one of the most prominent contemporary European poets.
The debiutant poetry book Poker (1966) consists of poems, which caused a sort of dismay among both the critics and the readers. Recipients pointed out series of loosely connected images, often drastic and used in dispense of discursive meaning. The presence of elements of absurd and grotesque was also noticed, as well as a definite rejection of the ethos of Central European intellectualist. First poem begins with following words: 'I got tired with the image of my tribe and I left'. A connection with the poetry of symbolists, especially Rimbaud and T. S. Eliot, as well as French and Serbian surrealists was also brought to light.
About the author:
Tomaž Šalamun — born in 1941 in Zagreb . He graduated from University of Ljubljana, where he studied art history and history. He was given a scholarship at universities in Kraków, Rome, Paris and Mexico City. He spent two years at the University of Iowa as a participant in the International Writing Program and as an assistant at the Department of Comparative Literature. After a short period of working at the Academy of Fine Arts and Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana, he was forced to work as a salesman and an English teacher. After political changes he served as Cultural Attaché to the Consulate General of Slovenia in New York. He published 30 poetry books and many selections of his poems in foreign languages. He died on 27th December 2014.
Details of the publication:
Translation: Katarina Šalamun-Biedrzycka
Edited by: Bartłomiej Majzel, Marek Zieliński
Graphic and typography: Wojtek Kucharczyk
Copyright: Tomaž Šalamun
Publisher: Cultural Institution Ars Cameralis Silesiae Superioris
Year and place of publishing: Katowice 2002
Language: Polish
Paperback
The book was published with financial support of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Warsaw.
The book was published after meeting with the poet in Katowice in 2000 during Ⅸ Ars Cameralis Festival 2000.