Empedocles' Shoe

A key critical work bringing relevance to Brecht's poetry in the 21st century

Brecht is increasingly recognised as one of the most important lyric voices of the 20th century. Alongside Rilke he is honoured as Germany's greatest modern poet. Yet his poetry is relatively little known in the English speaking world. This title takes its cue from an allegorical poem about the artist's legacy and looks at how poets and translators might read Brecht today.The volume arises from a seminar held at Oxford University in 1998 to mark the centenary of Brecht's birth and includes seminal contributions from experts. It sheds new light on individual poems as well as giving an overview of Brecht's poetry from the earliest days to the GDR years. There are also Brecht poems in parallel translation as well as translations by major British poets such as Tom Paulin, Seamus Heaney, Jamie McKendrick, Michael Morley, Derek Mahon, and David Constantine.Contributors Ronald Speirs, Hans-Harald Muller, Tom Kindt, Robert Habeck, Hilda Brown, David Midgley, Elizabeth Boa, Anthony Phelan, David Constantine, Ray Ockenden, Erdmut Wizisla.