Metropolitan Icons

A bilingual edition of the work of the Hungarian postwar poet, Janos Pilinszky. It comprises about one third of his collected verse, representing all six of his major collections, all the Holocaust poetry, and a complete new translation of the dramatic recitative "KZ Oratorio".

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This is a selection of the work of Hungary's most distinguished postwar poet, Janos Pilinszky (1921-1981). This bilingual edition, comprising about one-third of Pilinszky's collected verse, represents all six of his major collections: "Trapeze and Parallel Bars", "On the Third Day", "Metropolitan Icons", "Splinters", "Denouement" and "Crater". Among the poems chosen from "Metropolitan Icons" is a complete new translation of the dramatic recitative "KZ Oratorio". All of the Holocaust poetry, as well as major, deeply personal writing, is also presented. The collection is provided with an introduction, and closes with notes on the poems, many of which solve literary puzzles and make suggestions for further study. There is a bibliography of primary and selected secondary sources, including a list of Pilinszky's work available in English.