From the Interior: Poems 1995–2005

"Petr Borkovec is one of the best known contemporary Czech poets, establishing a reputation across Europe and beyond. Already translated into several other European languages including French, German, and Italian, this is the first generous selection of his prize-winning work to appear in English." "Rendered in a remarkably faithful facing-text translation by poet and academic Justin Quinn, From the Interior is both accessible and scholarly. It draws work from Borkovec's five collections, focusing variously on the natural world and on human relationships, often viewed through the objects with which people surround themselves. Borkovec also documents the period of upheaval in Czechoslovakia, in Prague and its surrounding towns. Quiet and concise, with precise observation and an apparently simple style, he sharpens the reader's eye for everyday life. Critically acclaimed, he has mastered traditional techniques of poetry to a standard no other Czech writer of his generation can equal, and has developed a distinctive voice. He is no lax rhetorician or waster of words, but has a laconic, almost reluctant articulation of his world."--BOOK JACKET.

Petr Borkovec is a writer and translator who works for the Czech literary journal Literární Noviny and the arts magazine Souvislosti. He has translated Russian poetry, classical Greek drama, and Korean poetry. Justin Quinn is an editor of the Dublin literary magazine Metre and the former Heimbold Professor of Irish studies at Villanova University. He is the author of Waves & Trees.