Name: Jaroslav Seifert
Year Won: 1984
Read: The Poetry of Jaroslav Seifert
Original Language: Czech
Reason: "for his poetry, which endowed with freshness, and rich inventiveness provides a liberating image of the indomitable spirit and versatility of man"
About: This poetry collection is just that...a poetry collection. Many of the poems surround the Czech Republic, particularly Prague, of which Seifert felt a particular love.
What I liked: A lot of the images are both beautiful and fresh. The language (at least in translation) is interesting and keeps me on my toes. There's a light, unencumbered feel to the verse, similar in nature to that of ee cummings (who I also rather like).
What I Disliked: Not really anything, although I'll admit that I find it really hard to assess poetry in the same way I do prose. Like, it's pretty and the images are interesting and the language fresh. I'm not sure what more to say?
Should it have won a Nobel: Perhaps. Again, I feel that poetry is one of the more challenging genres to assess precisely because it's subjective in a way few other forms of literature are.
Next Up: "The Flanders Road" by Claude Simon
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