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The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492 "A treasure trove, a labour of love and exceptional erudition, which will open up to the reader a world of poetry and culture as rich as anything in human civilization.... The range is astonishing... and [Cole] has produced a book which is by turns moving, charming, and funny." Gabriel Josipovici, The TLS "Peter Cole's work is an entire revelation: a body of lyric and didactic verse so intense, so intelligent, and so vivid that it appears to identify a whole dimension of historical consciousness previously unavailable to us. His work represents the finest labor of poetic translation that I have seen in many years.... The Dream of the Poem is a crowning achievement." Richard Howard "A sterling work of translation of unsurpassed scope, quality and importance" Ross Brann, Cornell University "Meticulously edited and captivating.... Poetic scholarship at its best.... A major translation project." Marjorie Perloff, Bookforum "Perpetually astonishing. The central figures in Peter Cole's [Dream of the Poem] are great by any standards.... [They] provoke love in any reader of Hebrew literature, and by [a] miracle of Cole's own creation, in any reader of little or no Hebrew who directly confronts the work of this major poet-translator." Harold Bloom, The New York Review of Books "An act of poetic creation of the highest magnitude.... [Cole's] achievement in bringing us this volume is as death-defying an act as any ever undertaken by the poets he presents within its pages." Esther Allen, Bomb Magazine "Highly esteemed translator Peter Cole makes this survey of medieval Hebrew poetry a beguiling, soulful book." The Financial Times, Books of the Year "The Dream of the Poem is a book that no reader of poetry should be without, and Jewish readers should have it in their libraries, regardless of whether they usually read poetry or not. It's just one of those strange things: a great book." Shearsman (UK) |
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So What: New & Selected Poems, 1971-2005 "A wise, smart, canny, superbly gifted and totally original poet." Gerald Stern "Taha Muhammad Ali has been wonderfully served by his translators, so that his work in English has the defining effect of great poetry, which his to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up." Scott McLemee, Barnes and Noble Review "The translation from the Arabic is excellent." Issa Boullatta, World Literature Today "Quietly powerful and exceptionally moving." The Boston Review "So What is... more than a collection of poems; it's an education. Introductions by poets and translators Peter Cole and Gabriel Levin (who worked on the book with Yahya Hijazi) are excellent overtures, [and] ... the poems–one artist's candid observations of a devastating, seemingly ceaseless conflict and of the land it inhabits–deserve star treatment.... From war comes art." The San Francisco Chronicle "An exceptional translation." Rain Taxi |
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J'accuse "Aharon Shabtai's J'Accuse, a slim volume in the prophetic vein, packs a terrific wallop..." The New York Times Book Review "There is no one like Shabtai.... These lyrics of a patriot betrayed by his government are both timely and timeless.... They will endure long after their referents are forgotten." Eliot Weinberger "A masterpiece of searing indignation.... Shabtai is fortunate to have a translator as gifted as Peter Cole." Journal of Arab Studies "Stylistically and intellectually [Shabtai] is a poet of the first rank..... Cole's versions are vivid poems in their own right." Antioch Review "Peter Cole's translations superbly capture the stark rhythms and cadences of the original.... Accurate and representative, they bring to life a substantial segment of the work of this enormously high–charged and talented poet." World Literature Today |
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Hebrew Writers on Writing "A deeply thought–provoking collection... inspirational." Midwest Book Review "A delightful selection from Hebrew writers reflecting on the act of writing itself." Tikkun "An invaluable new anthology.... [It] lays bare modern Hebrew writing not only as a literature of awakening and of salvation--individual and natioanl--but of revolt." The Weekly Standard "Cole's introduction is one of the most elegenat short surveys of the modern Hebrew revival. [Hebrew Writers on Writing is] a dynamic conversation across generations.... Cole has combed all manner of sources ... in order to gather some of the finest voices of the Hebrew litearture of the past century." Lilith
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