In the Wake of the Day

Description

"In the Wake of the Day" is a book of memories and journeys; from the chaotic energy of urban life in modern Istanbul, where John Ash lives, to the ruins of vanished civilisations; from personal incident to the narratives and vacancies of cultures. Ash inhabits the fertile and ambiguous territory where East and West meet. We 'know and do not know' the past. In an 'imperial city without empire, place of paradox', time too becomes fluid. The ancient, half-imagined past of Ur, Alexandria, Cappadocia coexists with a contemporary world in which 'tank tracks are driven over Babylon'. At the centre of this collection are John Ash's versions of poems by the great Alexandrian C.P. Cavafy. Working with Cavafy's voice, Ash expresses his own urbane intelligence.

John Ash was born in Manchester in 1948 and read English at the University of Birmingham. He lived for a year in Cyprus, and in Manchester between 1970 and 1985, before moving to New York. Since 1996 he has lived in Istanbul. His poetry has appeared in many publications including The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Village Voice, Oasis, PN Review and the Paris Review. Two of his Carcanet collections, The Goodbyes (1982) and Disbelief (1987) were Poetry Book Society Choices. His other Carcanet collections include The Branching Stairs (1984), The Burnt Pages (1991) The Anatolikon and To the City (2002) and The Parthian Stations (2007). He has also written two books about Turkey, A Byzantine Journey and Turkey: The Other Guide.

"[John Ash]may be the doyen of a new 'Istanbul School' [of poetry]." "Economist""