Carnac

Eugene Guillevic, who died in 1997, was one of France's most important contemporary poets. Dating from 1961, Carnac marks the beginning of Guillevic's mature life as a poet. A single poem divided into several parts, it evokes the rocky, sea-bound, unfinished landscape of Brittany with its sacred objects and its great silent sense of waiting. The texts are brief but have a grave, meditative serenity, as the poet seeks to effect balance and help us ""to make friends with nature,"" as well as to live in a universe which is chaotic and often frightening. In this poetry of description-where entire landscapes are built up from short, intense texts-language is reduced to its essentials, as words are placed on the page ""like a dam against time."" ""the book is a terrific existentialist document of its time, and still has much to tell us.""-Publishers Weekly ""Flinty and sparse and full of tensile strength, Guillevic's French is well matched by Montague's strong and sensuous English.""-Booklist ""A fine translation of a beguilingly simple work.""-Kirkus