Our Bearings at Sea
A Novel in Poems by Ottó Orbán, translated by Jascha Kesslar
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About the Book
OUR BEARINGS AT SEA: A NOVEL IN POEMS, by Ottó Orbán, translated from the Hungarian by Jascha Kessler (with Maria Körösy) is in purpose and effect an autobiography, written in prose poems, divided into thematic groups. Altogether, and upon reflection, it seems a montage and mosaic of the life of the poet from childhood on, remembered from the Siege of Budapest by the Soviet armies towards the last year of World War II, up through the various regimes until 1988 or so. It is both surreally grotesque and warm, sardonic on the madness of erotic life and politics during the horrible decades that this Central European country suffered. Family, friends, lovers, politics, history, and social commentary, all at once.
About the Author
Jascha Kessler has published 7 books of his poetry and fiction as well as 6 volumes of translations of poetry and fiction from Hungarian, Persian and Bulgarian, several of which have won major prizes. He served as Arts Commissioner for the City of Santa M