Description
In The Little Sublime Comedy John Gallas reanimates one of the great works of world literature for the twenty-first century. Relocated from medieval Italy to modern-day New Zealand, Dante's Divine Comedy is given a new lease of life in Gallas's darkly funny, surreal adaptation. Discovered snoozing on a mountainside above Lake Rotoiti, Mr Gallas - our millennial Dante - is taken under the wing by his Horatian guide, one Samuel Beckett. Over the course of 147 `songs' we accompany the pair on their journey through the Bad Place, the Better Place and the Good Place, and witness the horrors and delights that befall the dead. On our way we encounter a skiing Pohutukawa Tree, a Golden Kiwi, Lineout the dog, a Vegetable Ewe, souls falling off things, Philosophy, and lots of bright, coloured lights. Divine order is replaced by modern Physics, by Klein bottles, super-speeds and black holes. Gallas's Comedy is a metaphysical plunge through torment and triumph, as subtly satirical as it is unsubtly silly.
*Snatched from a mountainside above Lake Rotoiti, New Zealand, John begins a Guided Tour of Dante's Bad, Better and Good Place*He encounters wonders: a skiing Pohutukawa Tree, a Golden Kiwi, the affectionate dead and more. An ingenious New Zealand spin on Dante*Introduction by the NZ Poet Laureate Bill Manhire*John Gallas lives in Leicester
About the Author
John Gallas was born in New Zealand in 1950. He came to England in the 1970s to study Old Icelandic at Oxford and has since lived and worked in York, Liverpool, Upholland, Little Ness, Rothwell, Bursa, Leicester, Diyarbakir, Coalville and Markfield, as a bottlewasher, archaeologist, and teacher. His books are published by Cold Hub Press (nz) and Agraphia (Sweden), and The Little Sublime Comedy is his tenth Carcanet collection. He is the editor of two books of translations - 52 Euros and The Song Atlas - also published by Carcanet. He is a Fellow of the English Association and was 2016 Orkney St Magnus Festival poet.
Reviews
'An enticing and timely collection of translations' - The Guardian on '52 Euros'; `One of the UK's most fascinating poets ... hilarious' - Yorkmix; 'The greatest New Zealand poet no one has ever heard of.' - Spinoff
Book Information
ISBN 9781784104740
Author John Gallas
Format Paperback
Page Count 184
Imprint Carcanet Press Ltd
Publisher Carcanet Press Ltd
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 15mm
*Snatched from a mountainside above Lake Rotoiti, New Zealand, John begins a Guided Tour of Dante's Bad, Better and Good Place*He encounters wonders: a skiing Pohutukawa Tree, a Golden Kiwi, the affectionate dead and more. An ingenious New Zealand spin on Dante*Introduction by the NZ Poet Laureate Bill Manhire*John Gallas lives in Leicester
About the Author
John Gallas was born in New Zealand in 1950. He came to England in the 1970s to study Old Icelandic at Oxford and has since lived and worked in York, Liverpool, Upholland, Little Ness, Rothwell, Bursa, Leicester, Diyarbakir, Coalville and Markfield, as a bottlewasher, archaeologist, and teacher. His books are published by Cold Hub Press (nz) and Agraphia (Sweden), and The Little Sublime Comedy is his tenth Carcanet collection. He is the editor of two books of translations - 52 Euros and The Song Atlas - also published by Carcanet. He is a Fellow of the English Association and was 2016 Orkney St Magnus Festival poet.
Reviews
'An enticing and timely collection of translations' - The Guardian on '52 Euros'; `One of the UK's most fascinating poets ... hilarious' - Yorkmix; 'The greatest New Zealand poet no one has ever heard of.' - Spinoff
Book Information
ISBN 9781784104740
Author John Gallas
Format Paperback
Page Count 184
Imprint Carcanet Press Ltd
Publisher Carcanet Press Ltd
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 135mm * 15mm
