The Drug of Art: Selected Poems of Ivan Blatny

Translated from the Czech by Matthew Sweney, Justin Quinn, Alex Zucker, Veronika Tuckerova & Anna Moschovakis. Edited by Veronika Tuckerova. "The verses and fate of the poet Ivan Blatny complete the fate of Czech literature, which transcended the borders of the nation, often struggling for survival"—Vaclav Havel. Lost to the world for twenty-five years, Ivan Blatny was, according to the Czech Ministry of Culture, "one of the most significant Czech poets of the twentieth century." Blatny fled Czechoslovakia after the Communist coup in 1948, but didn't cope well with exile. This volume spans fifty years of his career and is notable for being the first major collection of Blatny's work in English, including his multi-lingual poems written while he was housed in mental hospitals in England.