{"product_id":"the-shadow-of-words-9781780375403","title":"The Shadow of Words","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAna Blandiana is one of Romania's foremost poets, a leading dissident before the fall of Communism, and now one of her country's strongest candidates for the Nobel Prize.\u003c\/strong\u003e A prominent opponent of the Ceaușescu regime, Blandiana became known for her daring, outspoken poems as well as for her courageous defence of ethical values. Over the years, her works have become the symbol of a moral consciousness that refuses to be silenced by a totalitarian government. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Shadow of Words\u003c\/em\u003e covers Blandiana's early collections published from 1964 to 1981, as well as including uncollected poems from that period which only appeared in anthologies. It follows \u003cem\u003eMy Native Land A4 \u003c\/em\u003e(2014), \u003cem\u003eThe Sun of Hereafter - Ebb of the Senses\u003c\/em\u003e (2017) and \u003cem\u003eFive Books\u003c\/em\u003e (2021) in completing Bloodaxe's presentation of Blandiana's collected poems to date in English translation. She published these poems during the brief period of political thaw of Romania's communist regime, when aestheticism took on a more subversive role, reaffirming the autonomy of the poetic word and freeing it from the stultifying demands of propagandist proletarian art. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn her early poems, Blandiana's voice articulates a pure and vibrant spiritual language of unmistakable ethical clarity, calling for moral regeneration in the face of indifference. Their ethical idealism and steadfastness override the many masks of degradation. These youthful books announce from the outset the sense of responsibility and faith in the survival of the collective soul that has always characterised Blandiana's poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Romanian author and political activist Blandiana enthrals in this anthology of her early work. Fidelity to truth, ethical inquiry, union with nature, and the ubiquity of the soul underscore narratives that resuscitate awe and riot against passivity [...] With nonpareil enlightenment, valor, and spectral beauty, Blandiana's visions make an indelible impression.' \u003c\/b\u003e- \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review of The Shadow of Words\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAna Blandiana\u003c\/strong\u003e was born in 1942 in Timişoara, Romania. She is an almost legendary figure who holds a position in Romanian culture comparable to that of Anna Akhmatova and Vaclav Havel in Russian and Czech literature. She has published 14 books of poetry, two of short stories, nine books of essays and one novel. Her work has been translated into 24 languages published in 58 books of poetry and prose to date. In Britain a number of her earlier poems were published in \u003cem\u003eThe Hour of Sand: Selected Poems 1969-1989\u003c\/em\u003e (Anvil Press Poetry, 1989), with a later selection in versions by Seamus Heaney in John Fairleigh's contemporary Romanian anthology \u003cem\u003eWhen the Tunnels Meet\u003c\/em\u003e (Bloodaxe Books, 1996). She was co-founder and President of the Civic Alliance from 1990, an independent non-political organisation that fought for freedom and democratic change. She also re-founded and became President of the Romanian PEN Club, and in 1993, under the aegis of the European Community, she created the Memorial for the Victims of Communism. In recognition of her contribution to European culture and her valiant fight for human rights, Blandiana was awarded the highest distinction of the French Republic, the \u003cem\u003eL?gion d'Honneur\u003c\/em\u003e (2009). She has won numerous international literary awards. Paul Scott Derrick and Viorica Patea have translated all of her poetry into English. Their first translation to appear from Bloodaxe was of \u003cem\u003eMy Native Land A4\u003c\/em\u003e (2010) in 2014. This was followed by \u003cem\u003eThe Sun of Hereafter \/ Ebb of the Senses\u003c\/em\u003e in 2017, combining her two previous collections, and a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. \u003cem\u003eFive Books\u003c\/em\u003e, combining five collections, three of protest poems from the 1980s followed by her two collections of love poetry, was published in 2021. This will be followed by a further compilation from her early collections, \u003cem\u003eThe Shadow of Words\u003c\/em\u003e (2025). Ana Blandiana was awarded the European Poet of Freedom Prize for 2016 by the city of Gdansk for \u003cem\u003eMy Native Land A4\u003c\/em\u003e, published in Polish in 2016, the award shared with her Polish translator Joanna Kornaś-Warwas. She received the Griffin Trust's Lifetime Recognition Award in 2018, and received the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature in Spain in 2024.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloodaxe Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51201560543506,"sku":"9781780375403","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3ab2e6f3-9c5c-4339-89bd-2cf1c35a41fa.jpg?v=1744915287","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-shadow-of-words-9781780375403","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}