Dark Soliloquy

New York: The Seabury Press, 1975. Bilingual edition. Octavo in pink DJ, b&w portrait to front DJ, ix, 262 pages, b&w portrait frontispiece, 22 cm. Extremely mild rubbing to spine head and foot, very gentle rubbing to front board-rear edge, exceedingly gentle rubbing to corners, light soiling to fore-edges, tight binding, bright pages, pale sticker residue to front DJ, sunned DJ spine, less than quarter inch clipped tear to front DJ-rear corner, extremely mild rubbing to DJ corners, faint soiling to DJ and spine (fading), exceedingly gentle rubbing to DJ spine head and foot, price-clipped DJ, else near fine(-) in very good(+) DJ. in very good + dust-jacket. Hardcover. ISBN: 0816491992

DJ protected in archival mylar sleeve. In English and German. Gertrude (Chodziesner) Kolmar was born in Berlin on December 10, 1894. Her life, in its remoteness from great events and literary circles, resembled that of Emily Dickenson, and her poetry, of which so little was published during her lifetime, remained virtually unknown until years after her death. She wrote her best work during the 1930s, an unlucky hour for a German poet, and a hopelessly tragic one for a German Jew. Unable to escape the Third Reich, she was first sentenced to hard labor in a munitions factory and then deported to Auschwitz in 1943 and murdered. Gertrud Kolmar sought refuge in the eternities of the physical world; her poetic concerns orbit ceaselessly around a few central themes: the nature of woman and her passions, the wonders of the earth and sea and their animal inhabitants. Contents: Gertrud Kolmar's life and works -- Image of woman/Weibliches bildnis; The woman poet/Die dichterin -- Woman undiscovered/Die unerschlossene -- Troglodyte/Troglodytin -- Girl/Mädchen -- You/Du -- The sinner/Die sünderin -- Metamorphoses/Verwandlungen -- Sea-monster/Meerwunder -- A mother/Eine mutter -- Toy/Spielzeug -- Sleep/Schlaf -- Murder/Mörder -- Come/Komm -- Winter/Winter -- The Jewish woman/Die Jüdin -- We Jews/Wir Juden -- Meditation/Die sinnende -- The buried woman/Die begrabene -- Farewell/Abschied -- Animal dreams/Tierträume; The herons/Die reiher -- Tragedy/Trauerspiel -- The toad/Die Kröte -- The vulture/Der geier -- Hyenas/Hyänen -- The great auk/Der große alk -- Killer dove/Mörder taube -- Rose sonnets/Bild der rose; The fairest wonders/Die scḧonen Wunder -- Mulatto Rose/Mulattenrose -- Rose in the night/Die Rose in der Nacht -- Orange face/Orangengesicht -- Chinese Rose/Chinesische Rose -- Chiffon Rose/Rose chiffon -- Milk/Milch -- Love/Liebe -- Prussian coats of arms/Preussische wappen; Allenburg/Wappen von Allenburg -- Bocholt/Wappen von Bocholt -- Elmshorn/Wappen von Elmshorn -- Frauenburg/Wappen von Frauenburg -- Lassan/Wappen von Lassan -- Neidenburg/Wappen von Neidenburg -- Schloppe/Wappen von Schloppe -- Usedom/Wappen von Usedom -- Worlds/Welten; Dedication/Zueignung -- The city/Die stadt -- The Angel in the Forest/Der Engel im Walde -- Out of Darkness/Aus dem Dunkel -- Towers/Türme -- The Unicorn/Das Einhorn -- The Animals of Nineveh/Die Tiere von Ninive -- The Sacrifice/Das Opfer -- The Urals/Der Ural -- The Mergui Isles/Die Mergui-Inseln -- Asia/Asien. Women poets, German -- 20th century.