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Poetry Canadian

Surviving Words

by (author) Endre Farkas

Publisher
J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing
Initial publish date
Jan 1998
Category
Canadian
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780919754492
    Publish Date
    Jan 1998
    List Price
    $12.95

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Description

Surviving Words is Endre Farkas’ seventh book of poetry and his most powerful and accomplished to date. It is a collection of singular yet interwoven poems that, with haunting simplicity, evokes the horrors we inflict upon each other. The book begins with his parents’ experiences in Auschwitz and Mauthausen, moves on to deal with his childhood memories of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and concludes with poems about the ongoing acts of genocide. The poems in Surviving Words are striking for their imagery and tone. With subtle irony, they remind us that "nothing is forgotten/nothing is ever forgotten."

About the author

Endre Farkas was born in Hungary and is a child of Holocaust survivors. He and his parents escaped during the 1956 uprising and settled in Montreal. His work has always had a political consciousness and has always pushed the boundaries of poetry. Since the 1970s, he has collaborated with dancers, musicians and actors to move the poem from page to stage. Still at the forefront of the Quebec English language literary scene - writing, editing, publishing and performing - Farkas is the author of eleven books, including Quotidian Fever: New and Selected Poems (1974-2007). He is the two-time regional winner of the CBC Poetry "Face Off" Competition. His play, Haunted House, based on the life and work of the poet A.M. Klein, was produced in Montreal in 2009. Farkas has given readings throughout Canada, USA, Europe and Latin America. His poems have been translated into French and Spanish, Hungarian, Italian, Slovenian and Turkish.

Endre Farkas' profile page