May (Hardcover)

Poetry. Translated from the Czech by Marcela Sulak. Compared to Byron, Keats, Shelley, and Poe, called Lautreamont's "elder brother" by the Czech Surrealists, Karel Hynek Macha (1810-1836) was the greatest Czech Romantic poet, and arguably the most influential of any poet in the language. MAY, his epic masterpiece, was published in April 1836, just seven months before his death. Considered the "pearl" of Czech poetry, it is a tale of seduction, revenge, and patricide. A paean as well to his homeland, virtually every Czech student and adult can recite the first stanzas of the poem from memory, and new editions still regularly appear in Czech bookstores. Unlike many of his European peers, Macha's work has been largely ignored in English translation. The present volume provides the original text in parallel.