Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems by Joyce Mansour

Joyce Mansour (1928–1986), a Syrian Jewish exile from Egypt, was born in England.

She became a well known female poet, author of 16 books of poetry, as well as a number of important prose and theatre pieces.

Mansour was 25 years old when she published her first book in Paris in 1953.

Her fierce, macabre, erotically charged works caught the eye of André Breton, who welcomed her into his Surrealist group and became her lifelong friend and ally.

Despite her success in surrealist circles, her books received scant attention from the literary establishment, which is hardly surprising since Mansour’s favorite topics happened to be two of society’s greatest fears: death and unfettered female desire.

She lived in Paris, France until her death in 1986 at the age of 58.

Now, over half a century later, Mansour’s time has come. Emerald Wounds collects her most important work, spanning the entire arc of her career, from the gothic, minimalist fragments of her first published work to the serpentine power of her poems of the 1980s.

In fresh new translations, Mansour’s voice surges forth uncensored and raw, communicating the frustrations, anger, and sadness of an intelligent, worldly woman who defies the constraints and oppression of a male-dominated society. Mansour is a poet the world needs today.

“You know very well, Joyce, that you are for me –and very objectively too– the greatest poet of our time. Surrealist poetry, that’s you.” –André Breton

 

“A woman created the sun

Inside her

And her hands were beautiful

The earth plunged beneath her feet

Assailing her with the fertile breath

Of volcanoes “

 

Emerald Wounds: Selected Poems
by Joyce Mansour (Author)
Garrett Caples (Editor)
Emilie Moorhouse (Translator)
Published by City Lights
ISBN: 9780872869011
July 25, 2023
217 pages
Paperback
26,99 euro

• fleursdumal.nl magazine

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