| Description |
76 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Note |
Poems. |
| Contents |
We lived happily during the war -- Deaf Republic : Dramatis personae -- Act one : The Townspeople Tell the Story of Sonya and Alfonso. Gunshot : As soldiers march, Alfonso covers the boy's face with a newspaper ; Alfonso, in snow ; Deafness, an insurgency, begins ; Alfonso stands answerable ; That map of bone and opened valves ; The townspeople circle the boy's body ; Of weddings before the war ; Still newlyweds ; Soldiers aim at us ; Checkpoints ; Before the war, we made a child ; As soldiers choke the stairwell ; 4 a.m. bombardment ; Arrival ; Lullaby ; Question ; While the child sleeps, Sonya undresses ; A Cigarette ; A dog sniffs ; What we cannot hear ; Central Square ; A widower ; For his wife ; I, this body ; Her dresses ; Elegy ; Above blue tin roofs, deafness ; A city like a guillotine shivers on its way to the neck ; In the bright sleeve of the sky ; To live ; The townspeople watch them take Alfonso ; Away ; Eulogy ; Question ; Such is the story made of stubbornness and a little air -- Act two : The Townspeople Tell the Story of Momma Galya. Townspeople speak of Galya on her green bicycle : When Momma Galya first protested ; A bundle of laundry ; What are days ; Galya whispers, as Anushka nuzzles ; Galya's puppeteers ; In Bombardment, Galya ; The little bundles ; Galya's toast ; Theater nights ; And while puppeteers are arrested ; Soldiers don't like looking foolish ; Search patrols ; Lullaby ; Firing squad ; Question ; Yet, I am ; The trial ; Pursued by the men of Vasenka ; Anonymous ; And yet, on some nights ; In a time of peace. |
| Summary |
Deaf Republic opens in an occupied country in a time of political unrest. When soldiers breaking up a protest kill a deaf boy, Petya, the gunshot becomes the last thing the citizens hear--they all have gone deaf, and their dissent becomes coordinated by sign language. The story follows the private lives of townspeople encircled by public violence: a newly married couple, Alfonso and Sonya, expecting a child; the brash Momma Galya, instigating the insurgency from her puppet theater; and Galya's girls, heroically teaching signing by day and by night luring soldiers one by one to their deaths behind the curtain. At once a love story, an elegy, and an urgent plea, Ilya Kaminsky's long-awaited Deaf Republic confronts our time's vicious atrocities and our collective silence in the face of them--Publisher's description. |
| Awards |
National Book Award: Poetry Finalist, 2019 |
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Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, 2020 Poetry |
| Subject |
Deafness -- Poetry.
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Sign language -- Poetry.
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Political violence -- Poetry.
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American poetry -- 21st century.
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Lyrik (DE-588)4036774-5
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American poetry.
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| Genre |
Poetry.
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Poetry.
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| Added Title |
Poems. Selections
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Poems |
| ISBN |
9781555978310 (paperback) : $17.00 |
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1555978312 (paperback) |
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