{"id":11861,"date":"2020-08-31T17:24:41","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T16:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861"},"modified":"2020-08-31T17:40:23","modified_gmt":"2020-08-31T16:40:23","slug":"mikl%cf%8cs-radn%cf%8cti-camp-notebook-trans-francis-r-jones-reviewed-by-ian-pople","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861","title":{"rendered":"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook<\/em><\/strong> trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti |\u00a0Camp Notebook<\/i> trans. Francis R. Jones | Arc Publications: \u00a39.99<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1944, the Hungarian poet Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u00f3ti was shot while being force-marched from the copper mine in Bor in Serbia towards Germany. His body, exhumed from a ditch after the war, was identified from the notebook in his pocket. That notebook is reproduced in facsimile in this text published by Arc in this country, along with Francis R. Jones lucid and moving translations of the poems it contains. Such facsimiles of the Camp Notebook <\/i>were, apparently, available in Budapest much later. In this edition, they are reproduced in all their smudged glory, Radn\u00f3ti\u2019s beautiful handwriting running across or down the small, squared pages; plus the bottle label on which he wrote his last deeply poignant poem. Radn\u00f3ti was a relatively well-published in his own lifetime and had published seven collections and a memoir before his death at the age of 36. He translated La Fontaine and Apollinaire into Hungarian and his early work is influenced by symbolism. Since his death, however, Radn\u00f3ti has come to be seen as one of the great witnesses to the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

In his introduction to the book, George Szirtes suggests that \u2018what distinguishes Radn\u00f3ti\u2019s last poems is a turning away from the aestheticized or mythologised self to the brute world outside that he records with remarkable steady-eyed clarity. Gifted as he was in his earlier work, it is the camp experience that forces him to see beyond the limits of his own temperament.\u2019 Szirtes goes on to comment on Radn\u00f3ti\u2019s preoccupation towards the end of his life with the Virgilian Eclogue. In the eclogues, according to Szirtes, Radn\u00f3ti uses \u2018the dialogue and \u2026 the pastoral \u2026 [as] a potentially public forum for discussing the ills of the time.\u2019 Thus the classical form, that \u2018tennis net\u2019 that Frost demanded, allows Radn\u00f3ti the formal control by which he is able to address even the darkest moments of twentieth century \u2018life\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Camp Notebooks<\/i> actually contain only ten poems. There is a group of four poems entitled \u2018postcard\u2019, plus that poem written on the back of a bottle label. They start with the \u2018Seventh Eclogue\u2019, which implies a form in which the poet was, seemingly, practiced. However, if Szirtes is correct and these poems \u2018see beyond the limits of his own temperament\u2019, then the persona of these poems still comes across as quite highly defined. And that is not necessarily a criticism. \u2018Seventh Eclogue\u2019 pictures the prisoners in their camp barrack as night falls. The poem begins with the narrator\u2019s night time gaze looking to the edge of his vision: \u2018the wild \/ oak fence, edged with barbed wire, the hut\u2019s so floating. \/ A slow stare lets the frame of our bondage go \/ and the wire\u2019s tightness is just in the mind, just in the mind.\u2019 As Radn\u00f3ti goes on to note, this kind of fantasy is as liberating for the mind, as sleep is for the body. The liberation is, however, deeply circumscribed. Not only is the narrator still awake but that very sleeplessness emphasises the contrast between the fantasy and the reality. In sleep, the prisoner has \u2018the hiding-land of home\u2019 but \u2018Ah, does that land still exist? \/ What if a bomb has hit it?\u2019 And the poet himself \u2018groping\u2019 his way like an \u2018inchworm\u2019 through his hexameter, will his writing be understood in that home? Not only is the writing possibly pointless but he, too, is \u2018caged, and bug-ridden\u2019. It is a poem which is brought to a halt with the certain knowledge that the writer cannot sleep without his lover.<\/p>\n

There is, then, perhaps a tension in Radn\u00f3ti\u2019s looking beyond his own temperament. He sees the appalling physical limits of the prisoners, and how their fantasies and sleep transcend those limits. At the same time, it is Radn\u00f3ti, himself, the writer who is \u2018recording\u2019 that transcendence, that seeing beyond; who is, perhaps, projecting the narrow focus of his fantasies onto the others amongst whom he sleeps. That is not, actually, to diminish Radn\u00f3ti\u2019s achievement. It is that narrow, appalling focus, which Radn\u00f3ti brings so vividly alive.<\/p>\n

\u2018Forced March\u2019 captures that focus beautifully,<\/p>\n

The plum tree is shattered,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the house wall is felled
\nand all those homely nights\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 are matted thick with dread.
\nIf only I could believe\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 that everything still worthwhile
\nwere not just stored in my heart,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0and homecoming might be real;
\nif the bees of peace were humming\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 now, like then, out loud
\nwhile the plum jam stood\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 cooling in the old veranda\u2019s shade<\/p>\n

Szirtes, too, picks out that image of the plum jam cooling. There is a deep pathos there. And also in that literal crie de Coeur<\/i>, which pits the poetic sensibility of the writer against the reality of the world around him.<\/p>\n

by Ian Pople<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti |\u00a0Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | Arc Publications: \u00a39.99   In 1944, the Hungarian poet Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u00f3ti was shot while being force-marched from the copper mine in Bor in Serbia towards Germany. His body, exhumed from a ditch after the war, was identified from the notebook in his pocket. That notebook is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[13,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti |\u00a0Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | Arc Publications: \u00a39.99   In 1944, the Hungarian poet Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u00f3ti was shot while being force-marched from the copper mine in Bor in Serbia towards Germany. His body, exhumed from a ditch after the war, was identified from the notebook in his pocket. That notebook is […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-31T16:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-31T16:40:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/26v3jKzC\/512z-QJAXc-L-SX316-BO1-204-203-200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861\",\"name\":\"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-08-31T16:24:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-31T16:40:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\",\"name\":\"Ian Pople\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Ian Pople\"},\"description\":\"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti |\u00a0Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | Arc Publications: \u00a39.99   In 1944, the Hungarian poet Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u00f3ti was shot while being force-marched from the copper mine in Bor in Serbia towards Germany. His body, exhumed from a ditch after the war, was identified from the notebook in his pocket. That notebook is […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2020-08-31T16:24:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-31T16:40:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/26v3jKzC\/512z-QJAXc-L-SX316-BO1-204-203-200.jpg"}],"author":"Ian Pople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Pople","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861","name":"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-08-31T16:24:41+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-31T16:40:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=11861#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mikl\u03ccs Radn\u03ccti | Camp Notebook trans. Francis R. Jones | reviewed by Ian Pople"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9","name":"Ian Pople","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Ian Pople"},"description":"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-35j","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11861"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11865,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11861\/revisions\/11865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}