Second Simplicity

Yves Bonnefoy, now 87 years old, has enjoyed during the past two decades perhaps the most prolific and innovative period of his splendid lifework. This volume presents in English and French an inviting array of his recent writings, carefully selected for their literary quality as well as their broad appeal. It features several works never published before and many that have never been translated into English.

The first anthology of Bonnefoy's work to appear since 1995, this collection reflects the poet's powerful engagement with the New England landscape, where quiet woods and fields have given shape to the pared-down aesthetic of his recent years. This book is the first to showcase not only the poetry for which Bonnefoy is justly renowned but also his inventive compositions in prose. Appropriately, this book alternates more traditional verse with freer forms, just as the author has done in several major works of the past twenty years; that symbiotic approach is one of the hallmarks of this latter phase of his art.

Masterfully translated by Hoyt Rogers, the collection is organized chronologically, revealing clearly how the poet continues to extend and refine his scope and style. Rogers provides a penetrating introduction in which he analyzes aspects of Bonnefoy's recent writings and the 'second simplicity' that characterizes his late work.