"Darkness Spoken" gathers together Ingeborg Bachmann's two celebrated books of p
oetry, as well as early and late poems not collected in book form, over 100 of t
hem appearing in English for the first time, as well as 25 poems never before pu
blished in German. Bachmann is considered one of the most important poets to eme
rge in postwar German letters, and this volume represents the largest collection
available in English translation. Influencing numerous writers from Thomas Bern
hard to Christa Wolf to Elfriede Jelinek (winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Lite
rature), Bachmann's poetic investigation into the nature and limits of language
in the face of historical violence remains unmatched in its ability to combine p
hilosophical insight with haunting lyricism.
