Angina Days

Michael Hofmann is an award-winning poet and translator. His "Selected Poems" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) appeared in 2009. His other books include the anthology "Twentieth-Century German Poetry" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) and the book of essays "Behind the Lines" (Faber & Faber). He has translated Durs Grunbein, Franz Kafka, Wolfgang Koeppen, and Joseph Roth, among many other writers. He teaches at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and lives in London and Hamburg.

Winner of the 2012 Thornton Wilder Prize for Translation, American Academy of Arts and Letters Runner-Up for the 2011 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, PEN American Center Runner-Up for the The 2011 Schlegel-Tieck Prize (for German Translation), The Society of Authors "Angina Days, a crisp new selection translated by Michael Hofmann and published in Princeton's 'Facing Pages' series, is an opportunity for Eich to secure at last the English-speaking readership he has long deserved. In the German-speaking world, Eich is widely accepted as a twentieth-century classic, the supreme poet of unease. His poem 'Inventur' ('Inventory') is one of the best known poems in the language. Born in 1907 in Lebus on the Oder, a small village near Berlin, Eich was a member, along with Heinrich Boll and Gunter Grass, of the Gruppe 47, a literary association 'called into being to cleanse and adjust and simplify' the German language after its abuse by the Third Reich, as Hofmann explains in his excellent introduction... Hofmann's translations in Angina Days have the confidence, clearness and clout to offer Eich salvation from obscurity... Hofmann's new translations are neither cumbersome nor dull. They work as poems independently from the German. They are animated, idiomatic, attractively spry, and above all they allow Eich's voice to reach us loud and clear--peevish, skeptical, true to itself, irresistible."--Siriol Troup, Times Literary Supplement "Scenes of isolated survival amid bewildering change appear throughout Angina Days, an excellent comprehensive bilingual selection of Eich's poems edited and translated by Michael Hofmann."--John Palattella, Nation "At last a major portion of the poetry of Gunter Eich (1907-1972) has been made accessible to an English-speaking readership in a new translation."--Axel Vieregg, Berlin Review of Books "Fortunately, renowned poet and translator Michael Hofmann has brought a selection of Eich's late poetry into sharp, searing English in Angina Days, a book that will remain the definitive translated edition of Eich's late work... Eich's scaled-back language--in Hofmann"s deft translation--facilitates a devastatingly unsentimental tone appropriate for this clear-eyed consideration of what it means to be a prisoner, and what a prisoner's simple possessions mean to him... Michael Hofmann's thrilling new translations of this neglected master will stick like barbs in the minds of English-language readers for years to come."--Stephan Delbos, Prague Post "Since I mention poetry, I should say that Michael Hofmann's translations of the poems of the German poet Guenter Eich, Angina Days, is one of the best books to come out in 2010. Eich's acerbic, chafing, sensuous verses, dealing with life's most basic anxieties and activities, refute, through a combination of stubbornness and technique, Adorno's stricture about the impossibility of poetry after Auschwitz."--Amit Chaudhuri, Outlook India "Contemporary literature would be a great deal duller, sparser and more insular without Michael Hofmann... Eich (1907-72) is among the most significant voices in post-war German poetry. For anyone new to [Eich], Hofmann's selection, drawn mainly from his later work, is an excellent introduction."--Dennis O'Driscoll, PN Review

• Acknowledgments, xi Introduction, xiii from Abgelegene Gehofte / Remote Smallholdings (1948) Abgelegene Gehofte / Remote Smallholdings, 2 Pfannkuchenrezept / Recipe for Pancakes, 4 Camp 16 / Camp 16, 6 Inventur / Inventory, 8 Erster Januar / First of January, 12 from Botschaft en des Regens / Messages from the Rain (1955) Ende eines Sommers / End of Summer, 16 Gegenwart / Th e Present, 18 D-Zug Munchen-Frankfurt / Munich-Frankfurt Express, 22 Kleine Reparatur / Minor Repair, 24 Weg zum Bahnhof / Way to the Station, 26 Lemberg / Lvov, 28 Andenken / Memorial, 30 Wo ich wohne / Where I Live, 32 Reise / Journey, 34 Mittags um zwei / Two in the Aft ernoon, 36 Betrachtet die Fingerspitzen / Examine Your Fingertips, 38 Briefstelle / From a Letter, 40 Einsicht / Understanding, 42 Ende August / End of August, 44 from Zu den Akten / Ad Acta (1964) Alte Postkarten / Old Postcards, 48 Neue Postkarten / New Postcards, 52 Bericht aus einem Kurort / Report from a Spa, 56 Nachhut / Rearguard, 58 Rest / Remnant, 60 Alte Hollander / Old Dutch Masters, 62 Bruder Grimm / Brothers Grimm, 64 Zu spat fur Bescheidenheit / Too Late for Modesty, 66 Bestellung / Order, 68 Tragtasche / Holdall, 70 Ohne Unterschrift / Unsigned, 72 Jaques Devant, fur Viele / Jaques Devant, for the Many, 74 Aufgelassenes Zollamt / Old Customshouse, 76 Aussicht vom Spezial-Keller / Perspective from the Spezial-Keller, 78 Zunahme / Increase, 80 Auskunft e aus dem Nachlass / Tips from the Posthumous Papers, 82 Ungultige Landkarte / Fraudulent Map, 84 Topographie einer schoneren Welt / Topography of a Better World, 86 Fussnote zu Rom / Roman Footnote, 88 from Anlasse und Steingarten / Occasions and Rock Gardens (1966) Timetable / Timetable, 92 Berlin 1918 / Berlin, 1918, 94 Kinder-und Hausmarchen / Fairy Tales, 96 Rauchbier / Rauchbier, 98 Alte Postkarten / Old Postcards, 100 Neue Postkarten / New Postcards, 106 Weitgereist / Traveling Far, 110 Fortschritt / Progress, 112 Halb / Half, 114 Satzzeichen / Punctuation Marks, 116 Zwei / Two, 118 Bett huten / Confi ned to Bed, 120 Schluss eines Kriminalromans / Th e End of the Th riller, 122 Armer Sonntag / Poor Sunday, 124 Verspatung / Delayed, 126 Lange Gedichte / Long Poems, 128 Nach Seumes Papieren / From Seume's Papers (1972) Nordlicher Seufzer / Northern Sigh, 134 Stadtrand / Edge of Town, 136 Philologisch / Philological, 138 Nach dem Ende der Biographie / Aft er Setting Down the Biography, 140 Optik / Optics, 142 Namen / Names, 144 Steuererklarung / Tax Declaration, 146 Augsburg / Augsburg, 148 Nach Seumes Papieren / From Seume's Papers, 150 Spater / Later, 152 from Uncollected Poems and Poems from Radio Plays Der Regen in Eltville / The Rain in Eltville, 156 Plane / Plans, 158 Vorwinter / Early Winter, 160 Alter Dezember / Old December, 162 Nomaden / Nomads, 164 Freund und Horazleser / Friend and Reader of Horace, 166 aus: Traume / from: Dreams, 168 Handel / Handel, 180 Napoleon denkt an Josephine / Napoleon Remembers Josephine, 182 Lange Gedichte / Long Poems, 184 Die vorige Woche / Last Week, 186 Und / And, 188 Landgasthof / Rustic Hotel, 190 Klinikfarben / Hospital Colors, 192 Vom Gluck / Of Happiness, 194