Nachoem M. Wijnberg is counted among the Netherlands' foremost living poets. His work is characterized by profound reflection on the nature of reality and the act of creation itself. Wijnberg probes the boundaries of language and its capacity to capture the essence of existence, often employing irony and striking imagery. His poetic language is precise yet evocative, inviting readers to contemplate the complexities of the world around them.
In „Das Leben von“ wird das Leben als Abfolge von Entscheidungen erforscht, wobei alternative Lebenswege betrachtet werden. Die Gedichte nutzen Satzreihen als analytisches Mittel, die sich dem Satzspiegel anpassen und unterschiedliche Zeilensprünge erzeugen. Jeder Satz wirkt als Behauptung, die den Leser schrittweise in den Text führt und eigene Bedeutungen entfaltet.
A new translation of work by one of the Netherland's most innovative, exhilarating poets, a poet who draws on everything from economics to parables to world history. The Dutch poet Nachoem M. Wijnberg is one of the most inventive, surprising, entertaining, and thought-provoking poets writing today. He is also remarkably productive, so that up to now only a small portion of his extensive body of work has appeared in English translation. This new selection of poems draws on all twenty volumes Wijnberg has published to date, constituting an indispensable introduction to this wry, off-kilter, spellbinding modern master. Wijnberg, not only a poet but a professor of business studies—hence his persistent concern with questions of value, real and false—writes only in the plainest language while displaying a formidable erudition. His poems engage economics, philosophy, and history; he writes Chinese poems and Jewish poems and classic songs; he tells stories that may or may not be parables; he writes from where the mind meets the heart. “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” Emily Dickinson enjoins. Wijnberg for his part has said, “Alienation is the last thing I am trying to achieve. The world is strange enough as it is and my poems help in dealing with that strangeness by bringing it close and as far as possible trying to understand it.”
Set during World War II, this anti-historical thriller blends Talmudic elements with tragicomedy. The story follows Jewish actors Salomon Maimon and Natalia Goncharova, sent by Stalin to investigate a perceived Jewish conspiracy behind Martin Heidegger's rise to power in Germany. Upon arriving in Berlin, they encounter Vice-Chancellor Walter Benjamin and the reclusive Heidegger. The narrative culminates in a surreal confrontation near a battlefield, where old Jews bring news of Stalin’s demise, prompting a reenactment of Old Testament scenes amid chaos.