Guest of the ilb 2003
Lorand Gaspar was born in Marosvàsàrhely
(Transsylvania), Romania, in 1925. He grew up in a Jewish home
speaking three languages (Hungarian, Romanian and German) and also had
French lessons from an early age. He was fascinated by Rimbaud’s
poetry, as well as by Einstein’s theory of relativity. As a child
he wanted to become a physicist and a writer; in fact he became a
surgeon and a poet. He began to study sciences in Budapest in
1943 but was soon called on to serve in the war. After
Hungary was occupied by the Germans, Lorand Gaspar was deported to a
labour camp in the south of Germany. He was able to escape to a
French camp in March 1945. He later assumed French nationality
and studied medicine in Paris. In 1954 he went to Israel as a
young doctor. While a surgeon in Jericho, Jerusalem and
Bethlehem, he came into close contact with the Palestinian
population. It was through the Palestinians that he first got to
know the desert, which was to have such a lasting influence on him,
forming the most important source of inspiration for his poetry over a
long period of time. From 1970 until his retirement, he worked in
a hospital in Tunis. His first poetry collection was published in
1966 under the title 'Le Quatrième état de la matière' (Engl: The
Fourth State of Material). Further collections of poems followed,
including 'Patmos et autres poèmes' (2001, Engl: Patmos and Other
Poems). Gaspar approaches the sublimity of nature with precise
diction and a keen eye for detail, taking in the substance, surface and
structure of a material in order to communicate its metaphysical
nature. In 'Patmos' he frees himself of the material aspect in
favour of floating, light and colours. His poems are often
fragmentary and elliptic in construction, as if to allow the meaning to
shine through between the lines.
In addition to his poems he has also written travel diaries on the
Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean illustrated with his own
photography, among which is included a history of Palestine (1968,
'Histoire de la Palestine'). He has translated poetry from
various languages, including Raine Maria Rilke, János Pilinszky, D. H.
Lawrence and George Seferis. Lorand Gaspar is recognised as one
of France’s most important contemporary poets. His work has won
the Grand Prix de Poésie de la Ville de Paris (1987) and the Grand Prix
national de Poésie (1994). Lorand Gaspar lives in Paris and
Tunisia.
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