Cole: The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition (2012)
I found in Tablet Magazine a note about Peter Cole dropping “a new anthology of poetry in translation today, The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition.” Here is the official description from the appropriate page of Yale University Press:
This groundbreaking collection presents for the first time in English a substantial body of poetry that emerges directly from the sublime and often startling world of Jewish mysticism. Taking up Gershom Scholem’s call to plumb the “tremendous poetic potential” concealed in the Kabbalistic tradition, Peter Cole provides dazzling renderings of work composed on three continents over a period of some fifteen hundred years.
In addition to the translations and the texts in their original languages, Cole supplies a lively and insightful introduction, along with accessible commentaries to the poems. Aminadav Dykman adds an elegant afterword that places the work in the context of world literature. As a whole, the collection brings readers into the fascinating force field of Kabbalistic verse, where the building blocks of both language and existence itself are unveiled.
And some related links:
- Interview with Peter Cole in the Paris Review.
- Author’s reading in Marin County, CA
- Event at Duke University, with really big picture
- Author’s page at Blue Flower Arts
