Haim Schneider

Receiving a free copy from Library Thing's Early Reviewer program will still not allow me to exaggerate my feelings about this collection. Being that it was published bilingually, I am sure the author has now displeased readers in two languages. Or maybe the German translation is absolutely exquisite.

First off, I love to read poetry; rhyme, reason, or neither. I very much appreciate when a writer bears his or her heart for the world to critic. But this collection is as much poetry as the ramblings from the unbathed man at the bus station, a drunkard talking to himself at the end of the bar, or Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys.

Adding a comma,
and a line break,
after every few words,
does not a poem make.

Everyone seems to have had a poetry writing book at one time in their lives, however I dare say that many should leave it hidden in the drawer of the end table.… (altro)

Schneider, Haim. Betrachtungen = Reflections : Zweisprachige Gedichte Für Nachdenkliche Leute = Bilingual poems for pensive people. Jerusalem ; New York: Gefen, 2010. Print.

I received this book via Library Thing's Early Reviewer program. I requested it as I enjoy poetry and am trying to expose myself to more of it, and since we're going to Germany in August for my son's wedding I figured it might help refresh my never very good German language skills. At least it would expose me to words I never needed for basic survival and shopping.

Early on I was beginning to be a tad annoyed by all of the God references but the author quickly showed that his is a questioning view of God and religion. For me, that is fully in keeping with the title and subtitle, and I can thus appreciate it more.

There are 42 pairs of poems on facing pages in German and English, and there are an additional 2 poems in German only and 1 in English only.

Titles range the gamut from Ophthalmological Reflections, At Its Most Serene, Who Knows? to On the Occasion of My Sixty-Fifth Birthday, Defamatory Epistle to the Second Hand of My Analog Wristwatch, and In Praise of Wrinkles.

I truly enjoyed several of these poems and I felt that as a whole they worked well. If you like your poetry philosophical and questioning then this book is for you. If you enjoy seeing how language is structured differently in different languages then this accessible book is for you.

As best I can tell, the author wrote and translated the poems himself. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1921 he and his brother had to leave due to the Anschluss. He went to Palestine and eventually spent 5 years in the British Army. Since 1946 he has lived in Jerusalem [per About the Author page].… (altro)

I was excited when this book came up as an Early Reviewers title because I'm always looking for new ways to practice German. Having German and English poems side by side seemed an ideal way, a real treat after having to compare passages between separate German and English language editions of books. In this aspect, this book certainly fulfilled its purpose for me.

The "About the Author" section at the back of the book explains that Haim Schneider was born in Vienna and that he and his brother just barely escaped the Holocaust, which claimed their parents. Mr. Schneider explains that he writes poems "not out of an irresistible urge to express himself, but out of the pure joy of playing with words and forming word sequences that make sense as well as music." Strangely, I found this to be one of the more poetic and pleasing passages in the book. The poems themselves are pleasantly readable but in large part did not speak to me emotionally. Some of the subject matter, such as the inherent loneliness of the human condition, felt tired, and in my mind did not have the benefit of a truly fresh or beautiful approach to make it come alive again.

But then, poetry is just about as subjective as it gets. Perhaps these poems really sing to someone else.

Regarding the bilingual nature of the book, I did very much enjoy comparing the German and English versions. A few poems are not translated: "Der große Schrei" appears only in German, for instance, while "Death of a Huxleian Swan" appears only in English. I think this is because the rhyming schemes in these poems simply cannot be carried over easily, or at all, to another language and still retain their meaning.

I would have liked to see some reflections by the author on what it is like to compose in German and translate to English, and vice versa. I imagine he takes both approaches, but I don't know because he unfortunately doesn't say.… (altro)