Bèsties 14. Stein

11.00€

Sam Abrams presents a selection of Gertrude Stein’s best poems, taken from her book Tender buttons in the centenary of its publication. In her poetry, Stein plays with language, investigates and breaks the mould in order to achieve a true reflection of the thinking and mundanity of her own experience. Dr. Sam Abrams, poet and literary critic, brings us closer once again to an author that is often marginalized, to celebrate her strenghts and proclaim the centrality of her work.

Gertrude Stein (Allegheny, Pennsylvania, 1874 – Paris, 1946) was an American writer, although she spent most of his life in France. She is considered to have been the catalyst of modern art and avant-garde literature. In Paris, her position allowed her to use her house as a meeting point between American and French intellectuals. As a poet, she is known for innovating and experimenting with language. Author of the famous verse “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose”, her poetry is collected in over twenty books.

Sam Abrams (Beckley, West Virginia, 1952) is an American poet, essayist, translator and literary critic. He moved to Catalunya in the seventies and graduated in Hispanic Filology (UAB). He has held teaching positions, has been secretary of the PEN Català association, has translated over twenty collections of modern Catalan poetry into English and has introduced many lesser-known poets of the English-speaking world into our literature. Among his publications as a poet are Calculations… (1997) and T’estimo. Més de cent poemes d’amor i desig (2002). He is currently codirector of the book collections “Clàssics” (Editorial Proa) and “Calaix de Versos” (Eumo).

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Bèsties is a wallpaper collection that combines the poetry and the portraits of some of the most acclaimed authors of universal literature. A selection of excerpts —posthumous, unpublished, forgotten— are presented in a groundbreaking format by the translators, current Catalan poets. The posters escape the parcelling of conventional pagination to project in a single canvas the unity of meaning emanating from the poems. Each wallpaper comes with a separate front page including a foreword by the translator, which contextualizes their selection and situates the author in their context.