The lush world of the botanical garden forms the backdrop of this extended meditation on birds and plants and their often oblique relation to the names we give them, both the scholarly Latin versions and the common ones. Written in short prose blocks, and often tongue-in-cheek, the book operates from many points of view: bird's-eye and plant's-eye as well as the human, which is revealed as being always limited and always seeking to enlarge itself by incorporating the perspectives of its radically different others. The form and tone of this work are indebted to the early medieval Arabic song form known as the muwashshah, which developed in Spain during the 11th and 12th centuries, while much of the information presented--sometimes abstractly, sometimes concretely--is based on a wide variety of works on botany and ornithology. Originally written in Japanese and French, the text constitutes a cultural hybrid that reveals Sekiguchi's rich and unique view of the world.
RYOKO SEKIGUCHI was born in Tokyo and moved to Paris in 1997, where she studied art history at the Sorbonne. She received her doctorate in comparative literature in 2000 from the University of Tokyo, then returned to Paris, where she currently lives. She has published numerous books of poetry in both Japanese and French, most recently Heliotropes (P.O.L) and Adagio ma non troppo (le Bleu du ciel), and has collaborated with visual artists, including Suzanne Doppelt and Christian Boltanski. She translates poetry, prose, and criticism from Dari, French and Japanese and teaches at the Paris Research Center for Oriental Languages and Civilizations.
The translator, SARAH O'BRIEN, is a poet and a photographer. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, she has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and South America. Her poetry has appeared in various journals in print and online. She currently teaches in Paris.
Ryoko Sekiguchi teaches at various institutions including the Paris Research Center for Oriental Languagesand Civilizatons.
RYOKO SEKIGUCHI was born in Tokyo and moved to Paris in 1997, where she studied art history at the Sorbonne. She received her doctorate in comparative literature in 2000 from the University of Tokyo, then returned to Paris, where she currently lives. She has published numerous books of poetry in both Japanese and French, most recently Heliotropes (P.O.L) and Adagio ma non troppo (le Bleu du ciel), and has collaborated with visual artists, including Suzanne Doppelt and Christian Boltanski. She translates poetry, prose, and criticism from Dari, French and Japanese and teaches at the Paris Research Center for Oriental Languages and Civilizations. The translator, SARAH O’BRIEN, is a poet and a photographer. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and South America. Her poetry has appeared in various journals in print and online. She currently teaches in Paris.
RYOKO SEKIGUCHI was born in Tokyo and moved to Paris in 1997, where she studied art history at the Sorbonne. She received her doctorate in comparative literature in 2000 from the University of Tokyo, then returned to Paris, where she currently lives. She has published numerous books of poetry in both Japanese and French, most recently Heliotropes (P.O.L) and Adagio ma non troppo (le Bleu du ciel), and has collaborated with visual artists, including Suzanne Doppelt and Christian Boltanski. She translates poetry, prose, and criticism from Dari, French and Japanese and teaches at the Paris Research Center for Oriental Languages and Civilizations. The translator, SARAH O&;BRIEN, is a poet and a photographer. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers&; Workshop, she has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and South America. Her poetry has appeared in various journals in print and online. She currently teaches in Paris.
