This is to notify you of the recent publication of "We werden honderd jaar ouder" (ie, "We aged a hundred years"), my international anthology of poetry written during and shortly after the Great War.
With "We werden honderd jaar ouder" (Davidsfonds, Leuven, Belgium), which contains well over 100 poems and their translations in Dutch, I am hoping to break through national barriers. Moreover, I am adamant that my selection proves that, regardless of the side which the poets were on, the reflections and feelings which they entrusted to paper were, more often than not, eerily and movingly similar.
Apart from this I equally attempted to extend the notion of "war poet" beyond its standard and classical meaning. That is why I also included the meaningful and often quite emotional and direct contributions of female poets, doctors, re^resentaives of the nursing staffs, army lieutenants and privates, people on the home front and even some poets who have remained anonymous. With regard to this, e.g., I included poems which were published in the Liller Kriegszeitung (German Army) and the Wipers Times (British soldiers involved in action in the Ypres Salient).
As for the nationalities of the poets, my book features poems by English-speaking, German (German, Swiss and Austrian), French (France and Wallonia), Dutch (the Netherlands and Flanders), Italian and Russian poets. I even found a very thoughtful poem by an Indian author.
In the book, the translations are printed side by side with the original versions.
The book, which was illustrated with over 20 original watercolours made by artist Wim Opbrouck, who turned his inspiration into a form of highly efficient visual imagery.
Highly notable as an added value to the book is a contribution made by Margi Blunden, the daughter of the war poet and chronicler Edmund Blunden. In this touching memoir of her father as a man and a poet, she reflects on her youth in a family circle, the father of which had survived the war even if he remained beset by shell shock till his dying day.
For additional information on my anthology, can I refer you to the site of "Flanders Today". In the "Newspaper Archive" link, you can access the text of an interview which journalist Denzel Walton had with me. You can find it on "Week 42" (of this year). Click on page 11.
Below you can read another review of the book, which was written by Lucy London.
Kind regards,
Chris Spriet
Dutch is not 'one of my languages' but I needed to have a look at Chris's Anthology in order to find out more about French, German and Dutch poets, which is not easy to do as most English language WW1 anthologies concentrate mainly on poets who wrote in English.
Why am I interested in poets outside my comfort zone? I am putting together a series of exhibitions for the coming Centenary years to commemorate the First World War in memory of my Grandfather, a career soldier with the Royal Field Artillery, who survived and of my Great-Uncle who volunteered, joining the Northumberland Fusiliers , who was killed at Arras in 1917. Grandfather was an "Old Contemptible" - one of the first British soldiers to go to France in August 1914.
The First World War was undoubtedly the first conflict to affect all countries of the world and civilians and soldiers alike. Women were not left out and, in spite of the fact that in his anthology "The Sweet Red Wine of Youth" Nicolas Murray leaves women out 'because they did not fight', some women did fight. I decided to try to find as many women poets from as many countries of the world as possible.
I am very grateful to Chris Spriet for his meticulous research, which brings together so many poets of different nationalities with a wide variety of poems. At the back of the book is a comprehensive list of the poets featured with brief biographical details. With the help of google.translate these notes are not beyond the comprehension of English speakers. Chris Spriet's Anthology is a fitting memorial to the First World War and definitely a 'must read' for anyone who likes poetry and who is interested in that conflict.
Lucy London
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