Man Animal Thing W.H. Auden

Man Animal Thing W.H. AudenAlfred Schaffer (trans. Michele Hutchison) Winner of the 2021 P. C. Hooft prize, the most important literary prize in The Netherlands for a whole oeuvre. Partly inspired by Chaka, a famous South African novel from 1931, written by Thomas Mofolo, the book charts the imaginary progress of the nineteenth century statesman and tyrant, Shaka Zulu (1787 1828). Structured around a series of daydreams and major events in Zulu's life, the poet extracts Zulu

probeert hem te verleiden tot terugbladeren en alles in een nieuw licht te zien

I want all their ‘tubular crescendos’

Thinking it might be his final work

and the indifference with which the tragedy was met by the state triggered a new era of race relations in Britain

collective experience to contend with

waardoor de grenzen tussen taal

De kracht ligt erin dat ze in een onderkoelde stijl het dwingende beeld weet op te roepen van een hallucinaire fabriekskosmos zonder plaats of geschiedenis

Using Alice Notley's 1981 poem 'The Prophet' as an intertextual launchpad

and cosmic vibrations

Of one sequence

“het is een heerlijke brok ruwe poëzie

the collection explores practices of re-articulation by way of the feminist gaze and the gut