James Brook is a poet and translator living in the San Francisco Bay Area. His translations include works by Guy Debord, Henri Michaux, Gellu Naum, Benjamin Péret, and Alberto Savinio. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared in Big Bridge, City Lights Review, Exquisite Corpse, Gare du Nord, Montana Gothic, Mudlark, New American Writing, Poésie, Science as Culture, Two Lines, Volt, and other journals. He is the principal editor of Resisting the Virtual Life (with Iain Boal) and Reclaiming San Francisco (with Chris Carlsson and Nancy J. Peters). The New York Times named his translation of Jean-Patrick Manchette’s The Prone Gunman a Notable Book.
Praise
A Blaze in a Desert: Selected Poems
SKU: 9781629633824
Author: Victor Serge • Editor and translator: James Brook • Afterword: Richard Greeman
Publisher: PM Press
ISBN: 9781629633824
Published: 05/2017
Format: Paperback, ePub, mobi, PDF
Size: 5 x 8
Page count: 192
Subjects: Poetry
Praise
“Victor Serge was a major novelist, a revolutionary, and a historical
witness, so it is perhaps not surprising that his poetry has been
overlooked. But his poetry is for real. It is as grounded in specifics
as you might expect from a fighter in some of the twentieth century’s
great struggles, and as visionary as you’d hope from a disciple of
Rimbaud and a friend to the Surrealists. Reading it is like coming upon
an unsuspected corridor in the house of literature. James Brook’s lucid
translation does it full justice.”
—Luc Sante, author of The Other Paris and translator of Novels in Three Lines by Félix Fénéon
“In these dark times, the poetry of Victor Serge illuminates the deep
continuum of revolutionary history. As all great work, it shows the
power of both resistance & acceptance. Serge is noted for his prose
but his poetry is in many ways more moving. It inspires the reader to
stay true to the revolutionary spirit and will in its compassion,
defiance, and outrage.”
—David Meltzer, author of San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets, When I Was a Poet, and Two-Way Mirror: A Poetry Notebook
Book Events
december, 2024
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Reviews
- The Uncivil Servant: An International Poetry Tour
- A Blaze in the Desert: A Review
- A Blaze in the Desert: A Review
Interviews
Mentions
Check out a reading of A Blaze in the Desert by writers Luc Sante, Lawrence Joseph, Thomas Sleigh, Richard Greeman, Allan Graubard, Edwin Frank, and Harry Newman of the poetry of Franco-Russian writer and revolutionary Victor Serge at the Cornelia Street Cafe, New York, NY, October 25, 2017.