Readings Newsletter
Become a Readings Member to make your shopping experience even easier.
Sign in or sign up for free!
You’re not far away from qualifying for FREE standard shipping within Australia
You’ve qualified for FREE standard shipping within Australia
The cart is loading…
The last works of the last great classic European poet now available in English.
In his 96th and final year, and with the help of the poet Jose-Flore Tappy, celebrated Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet finished two manuscripts-in-progress, one in prose and one in poetry, both of which are presented in this volume in John Taylor’s sensitive translation.
The first work, La Clarte Notre-Dame, takes off from the pure, weightless, fragile, yet crystal-clear tinkling of a monastery bell heard during a walk with friends. With this thought-provoking sound as a leitmotiv, Jaccottet looks back on a life of writing, reading, and scrutinizing humankind’s existential and spiritual aspirations. He sets these concerns against his equally lifelong preoccupation with the rise of evil in today’s world, notably in Syria. Composed in a baroque style, the verse poems collected in The Last Book of Madrigals explore love. Jaccottet returns in spirit to Italy, the country which for him symbolizes happiness and sensuality. As he evokes amorous attraction, he conjures up Monteverdi’s madrigals, one of Dante’s little-known rhymes, and Giuseppe Ungaretti’s last poem. Reinventing and commenting on these works, Jaccottet meditates on old age, approaching death, despair, and the persistence of love.
Together, both works grapple with devastating darkness, but as Tappy observes in her afterword, however, Jaccottet’s greatest force was his perpetually renewed desire, during the most terrifying night, to head for the light.
$9.00 standard shipping within Australia
FREE standard shipping within Australia for orders over $100.00
Express & International shipping calculated at checkout
The last works of the last great classic European poet now available in English.
In his 96th and final year, and with the help of the poet Jose-Flore Tappy, celebrated Swiss poet Philippe Jaccottet finished two manuscripts-in-progress, one in prose and one in poetry, both of which are presented in this volume in John Taylor’s sensitive translation.
The first work, La Clarte Notre-Dame, takes off from the pure, weightless, fragile, yet crystal-clear tinkling of a monastery bell heard during a walk with friends. With this thought-provoking sound as a leitmotiv, Jaccottet looks back on a life of writing, reading, and scrutinizing humankind’s existential and spiritual aspirations. He sets these concerns against his equally lifelong preoccupation with the rise of evil in today’s world, notably in Syria. Composed in a baroque style, the verse poems collected in The Last Book of Madrigals explore love. Jaccottet returns in spirit to Italy, the country which for him symbolizes happiness and sensuality. As he evokes amorous attraction, he conjures up Monteverdi’s madrigals, one of Dante’s little-known rhymes, and Giuseppe Ungaretti’s last poem. Reinventing and commenting on these works, Jaccottet meditates on old age, approaching death, despair, and the persistence of love.
Together, both works grapple with devastating darkness, but as Tappy observes in her afterword, however, Jaccottet’s greatest force was his perpetually renewed desire, during the most terrifying night, to head for the light.