Description
Shortlisted for the Manuella Dias Award for Best Book Design
Poetry. A bilingual collection of renga poetry by two of Canada's most celebrated poets in English and in French, each writing in his respective language in response to the other. A project of discourse itself, shared in dialogue between two poets, as they explore Novalis' definition of poetry as "the truly absolute real." The poetic act is world-changing, the agglomeration of atoms as they fall through space—a sort of "elective affinity," or state of grace—to constitute Being. If Lao Tzu reminds us that the Dao that can be named is not the eternal Dao, this renga, suffused with elements of the natural world, also recognizes that, in the words of Angelus Silesius, "the unnameable, which we usually call God, is expressed and revealed through the Word." Léveillé and Bloggett share an unprecedented dialogue that possesses both paradox and complete clarity of word in Canada's two official languages.
"With poems that phase between mythologies, E.D. Blodgett and J.R. Léveillé lend their voices to a chorus of Orpheus, Bede, and Ariel. Ex Nihilo reflects a friendship between poets that ends at the moment of illumination, when figures of speech are taken literally as a dictionary."—Nathan Dueck
“Blodgett and Léveillé produce images out of creation, that linger fragrant, as though in pockets of air in a sun-warm forest, and we understand with them, that breath and words is all there is.”
– Karen Clavelle, author of Iolaire and The Mother Goose Letters
“A mighty book, a dive into the sublime, verses grounded in the ethereal present. Code-switching and shape-shifting, lit well yet haunting and entertaining shades, these counterpoint voices exhilarate and grieve, attentive to wonder and perpetuality.”
– Renée Olander is author of American Dangerous and A Few Spells
“Ces poèmes exquis à deux voix se succèdent de façon inéluctable, comme le motif d’une fugue de Bach. De toute simplicité, de toute beauté. C’est comme s’ils respirent ensemble, dans un rythme incontournable d’inspiration suivi d’expiration, chaque souffle l’expression de la vérité profonde et existentielle qui se révèle dans des phénomènes quotidiens à ceux qui savent voir et écouter : le chant d’un oiseau, une nuit pleine d’étoiles, le bruissement du vent, et enfin le silence… Une oeuvre lumineuse dont « la musique des mots » (Verlaine) retentit longtemps après la lecture.”
– Rosmarin Heidenreich, auteure de Literary Impostors: Canadian Autofiction of the Early Twentieth Century
“Quel recueil émouvant. Sous la forme étonnante d’un renga, ces vers témoignent d’une grande amitié commé-morée en images tendres et évocatrices. Un livre unique où magiquement deux voix se font une. C’est un trèsor à savourer, à apprécier et à relire. Admirons la virtuosité menée par ‘un seul esprit avec deux bouches’ de cette inspirante entreprise.”
– Peter Schulman, Professeur de Français et d’Affaires Internationales, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
“EX NIHILO est un texte sans précédent. Deux grands poètes se répondent, dans un dialogue qui sonde les profondeurs de l’être. On y entend la voix du silence. Cette cantate à deux voix est une merveille, et le miracle qu’est l
Author Bio
J.R. Léveillé has published over thirty books (novels, poetry, essays). He has a master's degree in French literature and worked as a journalist and producer at Radio-Canada until 2006. Léveillé has directed portraits of authors for television, as well as special issues of literary journals. He was the long-time director of Les Éditions du Blé and served as secretary of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival. His work has garnered numerous recognitions, foremost Manitoba's Arts Award of Distinction. In 2009, he was writer and lecturer in residence at the Université de Rennes, France.
E.D. Blodgett is a poet, literary critic, and translator of more than 20 collections of poetry and the winner of the 1996 Governor General's Award for his collection Apostrophes: Woman at a Piano. In 1999, Jacques Brault won the Governor-General's Award for Translation for Transfiguration (1998), a translation of Blodgett's poetry. Poet Laureate for the City of Edmonton (2007) and Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta and also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Author City: WINNIPEG, MB CAN