Mozart's Third Brain

Sonnevi Goran, Lesser Rika, Warren Rosanna

Winner of the 2006 Nordic Council's Literature Prize, Swedish writer Goran Sonnevi is undoubtedly one of the most important poets working today. In "Mozart's Third Brain", his thirteenth book of verse, he attempts "a commentary on everything" – politics, current events, mathematics, love, ethics, music, philosophy, nature. Through the impeccable skill of award-winning translator Rika Lesser, Sonnevi's long-form poem comes to life in English with the full force of its loose, fractured, and radiating intensity. A poetic tour de force that darts about dynamically and imaginatively, "Mozart's Third Brain" weaves an elaborate web of associations as the poet tries to integrate his private consciousness with the world around him. Through Lesser's translation and preface, and an enlightening foreword by Rosanna Warren, English readers will finally gain access to this masterpiece.

About the Author

Born in 1939 in Lund, Sweden, Goran Sonnevi is the author of fifteen books of poems and a volume of poetry in translation.

Rika Lesser is the author of four books of poems and six books of poetry in translation. She teaches poetry and literary translation and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

Finalist for the 2010 PEN Literary Awards in the Poetry in Translation category given by the PEN American Center

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