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For The Fighting Spirit of the Walnut, by Takashi Hiraide

Translated from the Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu, Bilingual

Winner of a PEN Translation Fund Award: A lyrical, supercharged, dizzying collection in a unique bilingual format: like two halves of the walnut, the English text meets the Japanese half-way

The radiant subway. The wall that clears up, endless. A thundering prayer of steel that fastens together the days, a brush of cloud hanging upon it, O beginning, it is there--your nest. Thus the keynotes of Hiraide's utterly original book-length poem unfold--a mix of narrative, autobiography, minute scientific observations, poetics, rhetorical experiments, hyper-realistic images, and playful linguistic subversions--all scored with the precision of a mathematical-musical structure.

Even in translation, [Hiraide's] fine poetry really shines. At times I am reminded of T.S. Eliot." --Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Laureate

Date of publication: June 2008