Three Volumes in metal presentation box, Tafelberg, 2008, softcovers, Afrikaans text, 25.5 cms x 11.5 cms x 16.4 cms, condition: as new.
The Great book of verse is now not only placed within the context of a new time and a new century, but also surprisingly newly packaged. This anthology in three parts, the most comprehensive ever compiled on and from Afrikaans poetry, gives an impression of the range and variety, the richness, the energy, the originality and awareness of tradition of Afrikaans poetry. Self's Brink: "Behind all reasons and interpretations, motivations and explanations, there is ultimately only one driving force behind this whole enterprise, and that is that the compilation of this anthology is for me a declaration of love to Afrikaans poetry. And like any human being or object of one's love, this poem is ambiguous, full of endless variety: whether hartbeeshouse or apartment, link house or mansion, this house of our poem has many dwellings." The first part of the new Groot Versesboek is witness to an adventure that is rarely found in literature: the growth of an art of poetry, within a few decades, from a modest, naive, almost primitive beginning to a poetry that no need to be ashamed anywhere in the world. The second part of Groot Verseboek sets up a battle order of formidable female figures: Ina Rousseau - Ingrid Jonker - Wilma Stockenstrom - Antjie Krog ... alongside some of the greatest male poets in Afrikaans: Adam Small - Peter Blum - Breyten Breytenbach ... In the third part of Groot Verseboek blooms the latest Afrikaans poetry in a bewildering variety from TT Cloete to the latest black and brown and white voices, in a heyday of poetry about everything from violence to compassion, love to fear, earth and dreams part of a miracle whose end is far from in sight.
