Bèsties 5. Apollinaire

11.00€

Guillem Serrahima translates the long poem “Zone” into Catalan, an unprecedented accomplishment. This is the text that served as a preface for Alcools, the poetry collection that opened Apollinaire’s way towards earning a prominent place in French poetry. Zona transcends his work to become one of the symbols of avant-garde poetry. It goes beyond traditional form and style and opens up a window into the present day, excited by new inventions and developments. It is a wonderful stroll through the city that has become a world.

Guillaume Apollinaire (Rome, 1880 – Paris, 1918). French writer, spearhead of the Surrealist movement, he wrote a Futurist manifesto and admired Cubist painting. Immersed in his time, he intertwined poetry and life to the point of becoming one single thing. His awe of progress is reflected in his work, which remains a powerful influence in European poetry to this day.

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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 A selection of excerpts —posthumous, unpublished, forgotten— are presented in a groundbreaking format by the translators, current Catalan poets.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.