BOOKS IN ORIGINAL LANGUAGES or TRANSLATED FROM ENGLISH
Storytelling is a human condition (and it is certainly used by non-human species, but translation is waiting on that). Literature is a world-wide manifestation of the condition. I think it is important to pay attention to what language is the home for the storytelling. Not only does Whistlestop carry hundreds of translations of world literature, but where we can we carry the originals, sometimes in dual-language format. For fun we also carry a few titles of contemporary books back-translated into Latin. Try it — you will amazed at how much your brain is fired up when you read a different language!
Introduction to German Poetry: A Dual-Language Book
Introduction to German Poetry: A Dual-Language Book
The poems in this anthology represent a panorama of the main trends in the development of the poetry of the German-speaking people. Beginning with a minnesong of the early Middle Ages and a poem of the seventeenth century, the book then focuses on the Age of Goethe (1749–1832). Inspired by Goethe and his contemporaries, German poetry was able to develop according to its own genius and to advance along new lines that eventually led to the period of Expressionism and Post-Expressionism with which this anthology ends.
Included here are the full German texts of 39 poems-lyrics, ballads, philosophical verse, humor, student songs-and three selections from longer works by Goethe, Novalis and Lenau. Some of the other poets represented are Walther von der Vogelweide, Schiller, Hölderlin, Heine, Rilke, Brecht, Hermann Hesse, Stefan George, Gryphius, Platen, Scheffel, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer and Albrecht Haushofer.
For each poem, this book includes an expert literal English translation on the facing page. You'll also find a biographical and critical discussion of each poet, textual information and a portrait of the poet. Here is a wonderful opportunity to discover the depth and richness of the German poetic tradition, and learn the language at the same time.