David Constantine crafts narratives that delve into the intricacies of human experience, exploring themes of memory, loss, and the search for meaning within the everyday. His prose is characterized by its precision, atmospheric depth, and keen observation of emotional landscapes. Beyond his own fiction, Constantine's work as a translator and editor reveals a profound engagement with diverse literary traditions, enriching his unique voice. His stories often capture the quiet dramas and profound undercurrents of ordinary lives.
Bilingual edition (English/German). The poems are marked by restraint, avoiding exhibitionism while drawing on profound influences like Edward Thomas, D.H. Lawrence, Keats, Hardy, Goethe, Hölderlin, Kleist, and French poets Michaux and Jacottet. David Constantine's writing subtly inspires readers towards a freer, fuller, and truer life.
The characters in David Constantine's fifth collection are all in pursuit of sanctuary; the violence and mendacity of the outside world presses in from all sides - be it the ritualised brutality suffered by children at a Catholic orphanage, or the harrowing videos shared among refugees of an atrocity 'back home'.
Described as one of the as one of the UK's finest short story writers, Constantine intricately interweaves fictional characters and events with the real to create new ways of seeing and connecting our past, present and possible futures.
David Constantine's poetry is informed by a profoundly humane vision of the world. His title, Belongings, signals that these are poems concerned with our possessions and with what possesses us, with where we belong. Another kind of belonging is also challenged: our relationship with the planet to which we belong, but which does not belong to us.