Poetry. Translated from the French by Cole Swensen. JULIOLOGY is an extended poetic meditation on a mountain (Juliau) that is visible from the poet's house in the Ardeche region of south-central France. Focusing in particular on the flowering yellow English broom that covers the mountain in spring, Pesques intermingles close observation with a philosophical reflection on the roles and potentials of language. Both lyrical and abstract, both grounded and rangy, the text takes us inward toward systems of representation at the same time that it directs us outward into the real world that they try, but perhaps never quite manage, to represent.

Author City: Paris FRA

Nicolas Pesques was born in France in 1946, and has been publishing poetry since 1971. His most recent books include Trois poemes (Three Poems) from Edition du Limon, 1995, and La face nord de Juliau un, deux, trois, and quatre (The North Face of Juliau One, Two, Three, and Four), all published by Andre Dimanche Editeur in 1988, 1997, and 2000. His volumes translated into English include JULIOLOGY and PHYSIS. Pesques also writes literary and art criticism, and has published books on the work of visual artists Gilles Aillaud, Anne Deguelle, Jan Voss, and Aurelie Nemours, and on the poet Jacques Dupin. He divides his time between Paris and the Ardeche.