O krok od nich. Malarska antologia poetów amerykańskich
O krok od nich. A Painterly Anthology of American Poets

Author(s): Justyna Budzik
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: O krok od nich; Piotr Sommer; Jane Freilicher; anthology; New York
Summary/Abstract: The sketch is dedicated to the anthology of American poets titled O krok od nich, by Piotr Sommer. It is an attempt at a critical commentary to the collection. The author focuses equally on the choice of the 20th century American poetry masters made by the poet‑translator, and on the common thematic denominators that may have affected those very choices. The anthology contains poems by writers coming from a number of poetic schools, yet who all had close connection with New York City. Piotr Sommer presents poets of the so called New York formation, like Allen Ginsberg, Frank O’Hara, John Ashbery, Kenneth Koch (New York Poetic School of the 50s), American modernists like Edward Estlin Cummings, the objectivists like Charles Reznikoff, or, last but not least, confessional poets (Robert Lowell). The author of the article focuses on one of the most interesting characteristics of Sommer’s anthology, namely his striving to present American poets’ work in the context of the motif their writing has in common – the city and the urban space. The reproductions of Jane Freilicher’s paintings serve as an original binding material of the whole collection, presented here as a painterly commentary to the lyricism of the American poets of the 20th century.

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