{"product_id":"blaze-in-a-desert-selected-poems-paperback","title":"Blaze in a Desert: Selected Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eVictor Serge\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eJames Brook\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor), \u003cb\u003eJames Brook\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVictor Serge (1890-1947) played many parts, as he recounted in his indelible \u003cem\u003eMemoirs of a Revolutionary\u003c\/em\u003e. The son of anti-czarist exiles in Brussels, Serge was a young anarchist in Paris; a syndicalist rebel in Barcelona; a Bolshevik in Petrograd; a Comintern agent in Central Europe; a comrade of Trotsky's; a friend of writers like Andrei Bely, Boris Pilnyak, and André Breton; a prisoner of Stalin; a dissident Marxist in exile in Mexico...\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLike Serge's extraordinary novels, \u003cem\u003eA Blaze in a Desert: Selected Poems\u003c\/em\u003e bears witness to decades of revolutionary upheavals in Europe and the advent of totalitarian rule; many of the poems were written during the \"immense shipwreck\" of Stalin's ascendancy. In poems datelined Petrograd, Orenburg, Paris, Marseille, the Caribbean, and Mexico, Serge composed elegies for the fallen--as well as prospective elegies for the living who, like him, endured prison, exile, and bitter disappointment in the revolutions of the first half of the twentieth century: \u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNight falls, the boat pulls in, \u003cbr\u003e stop singing. \u003cbr\u003e Exile relights its captive lamps\u003cbr\u003e on the shore of time.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThroughout \u003cem\u003eA Blaze in a Desert\u003c\/em\u003e, Serge draws on the heritage of late- and post-Symbolist writers like Verhaeren, Rictus, Apollinaire, Blok, and Bely--themselves authors of messages of a more general resistance by the human spirit--to express the anguish of the failure of the Russian Revolution and to search out glimmers of hope in the ruins of the Second World War.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Blaze in a Desert\u003c\/em\u003e comprises Victor Serge's sole published book of poetry, \u003cem\u003eResistance\u003c\/em\u003e (1938), his unpublished manuscript \u003cem\u003eMessages\u003c\/em\u003e (1946), and his last poem, \"Hands\" (1947).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eVictor Serge\u003c\/b\u003e (1890-1947) was an anarchist firebrand, who wrote three novels, was arrested, and lived in precarious exile throughout his life. \u003cb\u003eJames Brook\u003c\/b\u003e (translator and editor) is a poet whose translations include works by Guy Debord, Henri Michaux, Gellu Naum, and Benjamin Péret. He is the principal editor of \u003ci\u003eResisting the Virtual Life\u003c\/i\u003e (with Iain Boal) and \u003ci\u003eReclaiming San Francisco\u003c\/i\u003e (with Chris Carlsson and Nancy J. Peters). The \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e named his translation of Jean-Patrick Manchette's \u003ci\u003eThe Prone Gunman\u003c\/i\u003e a Notable Book. \u003cb\u003eRichard Greeman\u003c\/b\u003e (afterword) is the translator of five novels by Victor Serge, including \u003ci\u003eMen in Prison\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBirth of Our Power\u003c\/i\u003e from PM Press. He has published literary, political, and biographical studies of Serge in many languages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 192\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.6 x 7.9 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 01, 2017\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51770494845216,"sku":"9781629633824","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/f563d7d47c0d0970639c861594fddb06.webp?v=1780372899","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/blaze-in-a-desert-selected-poems-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}