Prestigiosul Premiu literar Nelly Sachs, atribuit lui Norman Manea

Editura Polirom anunta într-un comunicat de presă că prestigiosul Premiu literar Nelly Sachs a fost atribuit scriitorului roman Norman Manea. Infiintat in 1961 si decernat la fiecare doi ani unor „scriitori cu o proeminenta contributie literara la intelegerea intre oameni”, Premiul literar Nelly Sachs se atribuie din 1961 şi preia numele primei laureate a distincţiei şi a revenit pina acumunor autori ca Elias Canetti, Nadine Gordimer, precum si lui Giorgio Bassani, Erich Fromm, Milan Kundera, Juan Goytisolo, Javier Marias, Christa Wolf, Margaret Atwood.

In motivarea Juriului din Dortmund, alcatuit din critici literari de la Die Zeit, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel, Frankfurter Rundschau si Deutsche Akademie Fur Sprache und Dichtung, se mentioneeaza ca „Manea este un reprezentat de seama al modernitatii literare luminate. Romanul Intoarcerea huliganului, un autoportret impresionant prin curaj moral si virtuozitatea limbii, prezinta – din subteranele propriei biografii – nelinistitoare aspecte profunde ale istoriei romanesti.”
Norman Manea, cel mai tradus scriitor roman in strainatate, este Francis Flournoy Professor in European Studies and Culture la Bard si scriitor in rezidenta al acestui Colegiu. Membru al Academiei de Arte din Berlin din 2006, Norman Manea este autorul a peste douazeci de volume de fictiune si eseuri. Scriitorului i-au fost decernate in 1992 Bursa Guggenheim si prestigiosul Premiu MacArthur („Nobelul American”). In 1993, Biblioteca Natională din New York l-a sarbatorit cu prilejul acordarii distinctiei de „Literary Lion” al Bibliotecii. In 2002, lui Norman Manea i-a fost atribuit Premiul International de Literatura Nonino pentru „Opera omnia”, iar in 2006, premiul Medicis etranger. Tot in 2006, scriitorul a fost distins cu Meritul Cultural in grad de comandor de catre presedintele Romaniei, a fost ales membru al Academiei de Arte din Berlin si in juriul international al premiului Nonino. In 2008, a primit titlul de Doctor Honoris Causa al Universitatilor din Bucuresti si „Babes-Bolyai” din Cluj, in 2009, Premiul Literar Francine et Antonie Bernheim (Franta), iar in 2011 – membru de onoare al Royal Society of Literature.

In semn de recunoastere pentru excelenta literara, Norman Manea a fost invitat vara aceasta de catre Colin Thubron, Presedintele Royal Society of Literature din Marea Britanie, sa devina membru de onoare (Fellow) al prestigioasei institutii.

Editura Polirom i-a dedicat lui Norman Manea volumul bilingv (romana si engleza) Obsesia incertitudinii. The Obsession of Uncertainty, care a fost prezentat in Statele Unite ale Americii, in cadrul Colocviului International „Norman Manea: a Celebration“, organizat de Institutul Cultural Roman din New York si Bard College. Cei interesati pot consulta volumul Obsesia incertitudinii. The Obsession of Uncertainty. In Honorem Norman Manea in cadrul sectiunii „Biblioteca online“ de pe site-ul editurii Polirom, www.polirom.ro. Link direct: AICI.

What about Concrete poetry

Almost all (of course not) you need to knowabout Concrete poetry you can find in this documentary at ubuweb.
The film documents the Sackner Archives of Visual and Concrete Poetry, and gives at least an idea of the special relationship that can be established between reader and poet.
As I see it, the problem is not so much „is concrete poetry literature” as „is literature only literature?”.
As for where poetry starts and where sculpture for an example replaces it, here it is the work of Michalis Pichler (2008/2009).
The description goes

„UN COUP DE DÉS JAMAIS N‘ABOLIRA LE HASARD (sculpture)

Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard (A Throw of the Dice will Never Abolish Chance) is a book by Michalis Pichler published 2008/09 in Berlin. The work is a close copy of the 1914 edition of the french symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem of the same name, but with all the words cut out by laser, in a way that corresponds directly to the typographic layout used by Mallarmé to articulate the text*.

A Preface features the entire poem written as a block of text with each line separated by a slash (/). This block-transcription of the Mallarme-Text was carried out in 1969 by Broodthaers.
12 double spreads follow, with immaculately cut out windows standing in for the text. When turning the pages, numerous shadows are being generated by the cutouts.

The work is soft bound and feels quite insubstantial. The cover is a facsimile of the original cover as published in 1914 by Librairie Gallimard, with the word ‘SCULPTURE’ replacing ‘POEME’ (or ‘IMAGE’) in the centre of the design.

500 copies are produced on paper, 90 on translucent paper and 10 on acrylic glass plates.

Historical note:

* Mallarmé had written the poem in 1897, also saw it published in a magazine called Cosmopolis, but left copious notes as to how it should be typeset, instructions that were finally carried out 16 years after his death, in 1914.

In 1969 this work was appropriated by notorious Marcel Broodthaers, who replaced the words by black stripes. He replaced the classification ‘POEME’ on the cover by the word ‘IMAGE’.”

In fact the whole poem-image-sculpture follows the changing form of expression constituted only in relation with the context that is invoked for each act.