A Handful of Night Journeys
16,00 €The fourth poetry book by the young award-winning poet Josip Čekolj takes the reader on unexpected journeys through literary worlds. On the nocturnal reading and writing paths, poems in the form of acrostics are created. For these, the poet chooses the first sentences from novels that in some way marked his childhood and youth. In this way, he creates an original dialogue between poetry and prose, erasing the boundaries between older and contemporary literature and between works for children and adults. The diversity of poetic images in this little linguistic masterpiece does not contradict the unity of the whole, which is based on a kind of substrate of the author’s reflection on the world. Acting in the dual role of reader and writer, Čekolj creates verses that spring from personal memories and experiences, resonating with broader social and political problems. The collection is full of strange stylistic figures and unusual syntactic turns, which on the one hand consistently maintain the concept of an acrostic, and on the other reflect the author’s imaginative and creative freedom. With its sense of rhythm and sonority of language, “A Handful of Night Journeys” builds on Čekolj’s previous books, but it also opens up a new poetic direction along the tracks of lyrical language – a conceptually well-thought-out and stylistically rounded work that captivates with its freshness and layered vision.
