Golden Apple

A Round of Stories, Songs, Spells, Proverbs and Riddles

Popa Vasko

A delightful selection from one of the richest traditions of folk literature in Europe. The universal qualities of these poems, stories, riddles and proverbs will appeal to a wide range of readers, including children. Since Yugoslav folklore is so much a part of Vasko Popa's own poetic world, readers of his poetry will find the book especially rewarding for the insight into his sources which it provides.

In making his original compilation, Popa followed his own poetic taste, gathering pieces he himself loved, and finding "great joy in bringing the little-known and undervalued beauties of old riddles, proverbs, spells and counting-rhymes out of the shadows into daylight". Translatability has been the key factor in making this English selection, which is illustrated with traditional Serbian rug motifs. The vitality of Popa's material is wonderfully conveyed in this adaptation by Andrew Harvey and Anne Pennington.

About the Author

Vasko Popa (1922-1991) was born in the Banat district of Yugoslavia. During World War II he fought with a partisan group; afterwards he studied in Vienna and Bucharest before completing his education at the University of Belgrade. He was elected to the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1972 and to the Parisian Academie Mallarme in 1977. He visited Britain on several occasions, attending the London Poetry International and Cambridge Poetry Festivals. He was widely regarded not only as the greatest poet of the Serbo-Croat language but as a poet of towering European stature. He lived in Belgrade where he worked as an editor for the publishers Nolit from 1954 until 1979.

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