ISBN 978-1-935830-36-8 (print)
ISBN 978-1-935830-39-9 (ebook)
Written in the early 1940s under the Nazi reign of terror and set in ancient Sparta during the Second Messenean War in the 7th century BCE, Tyrtaeus dramatizes contemporary ethical and political concerns—the brutality of totalitarianism, the precariousness of democracy and human rights, and the sociopolitical role of poetry and art more generally—through the prism of Greek elegiac poet Tyrtaeus’ involvement in the conflict: first as a prisoner of war and, subsequently, as a newly-minted Spartan general who—as decreed by the Delphic Oracle—is ironically destined to lead Sparta to victory. A perennial play that speaks to all ages.
REVIEWS
"Walder (1913–1945) might be a little-known mid-20th century Hungarian poet, but that has little to do with his talent ... Nothing is too big or too small to be noticed, and this transcendence of self allows Walder to make grand gestures without sounding archaic or pompous ... Walder endows smallness with heavy meaning ..."
“Why might we want to read these poems from a young poet of the 1930s in Europe? Firstly, we have a chance to hear the voice of a poet apparently too dangerously outspoken to be allowed to be heard in his lifetime ... But most importantly, Lajos Walder’s poetry, modern and urgent, committed to its craft, written against its own times, composed on the run, touched by personal and larger histories, is an example of the white-hot way poetry can emerge from a life. This is an exciting book to read.”
"Rarely have I been smitten by a poet, but in Lajos Walder (1913-1945) I have been swept off my feet. His [is] the art of a rare mind, who surveyed his times with an awareness as dark as Franz Kafka s and a humour as light as Milan Kundera's ..."
"Lajos Walder has neither ancestor nor partner in Hungarian literature. He is a poet, without a doubt a lyricist through and through, yet one whose every line and every poetic breath is pure heresy, pure rebellion against accustomed forms of poetry."
"Lajos Walder was the most credible voice to express the times between the two world wars. Without this artist s entirely individualistic voice, the overall picture of that period is incomplete."
Translated by Agnes Walder
ISBN 978-1-935830-36-8 (print)
ISBN 978-1-935830-39-9 (ebook)
Publication Date: February 10, 2017
Written in the early 1940s under the Nazi reign of terror and set in ancient Sparta during the Second Messenean War in the 7th century BCE, Tyrtaeus dramatizes contemporary ethical and political concerns—the brutality of totalitarianism, the precariousness of democracy and human rights, and the sociopolitical role of poetry and art more generally—through the prism of Greek elegiac poet Tyrtaeus’ involvement in the conflict: first as a prisoner of war and, subsequently, as a newly-minted Spartan general who—as decreed by the Delphic Oracle—is ironically destined to lead Sparta to victory. A perennial play that speaks to all ages.
COMING SOON!