Award Name National Book Critics Circle Award Award category Poetry Description Bilingual Edition Translated from the French and with an introduction by John Ashbery After I began translating Pierre Martory, that is, after I began to realize that his marvelous poetry would likely remain unknown unless I translated it and brought it to the attention of American readers, I have begun to find echoes of his work in mine.
His dreams, his pessimistic resumes of childhood that are suddenly lanced by a joke, his surreal loves, his strangely lit landscapes with their inquisitive birds and disquieting flora, have been fertile influences for me, though I hope I haven't stolen anything--well, better to steal than borrow, as Eliot more or less said.
All of which may be a way of saying that there is no very easy way to describe Martory's poetry.
It is sui generis and it deserves to be read.
And reread.
--John Ashbery About the Author PIERRE MARTORY was born in Bayonne, France (1920).
He grew up in Morocco and joined North Africa's Free French Army during World War II.
He published the novel Phebus ou le beau mariage with Denoel (1953) and worked as drama and music critic for Paris-Match for over twenty years.
In March 1956, Martory met John Ashbery, then on a Fulbright in Paris, where they lived together nine years.
In 1962, Ashbery dedicated The Tennis Court Oath to Martory.
In the seventies, Martory collaborated with the artist Francis Wishart on a volume of text and etchings entitled Le Pere-Lachaise.
In 1990, Ashbery translated Martory's first poetry collection, Every Question but One, and in 1994 Sheep Meadow Press published Martory's first full-length volume of poetry, The Landscape Is behind the Door.
A collection of poems in French, Veilleur de jours (Sheep Meadow Press-Alyscamps Press), appeared in 1997.
Martory died in Paris on October 5, 1998.
Most recently, Artery Editions in England published Oh, lac / Oh, Lake, a bilingual edition of twenty Martory poems, translated by As.
Sheep Meadow Press The landscapist: selected poems of pierre martory, paperback/pierre martory
