A Column of Cloud and a Column-of-Fire: Dimitris Lyacos’ Poena Damni
Journal of Poetics Research
Published: Sep 2017
Location: Sydney AUSTRALIA
Reviewed by: Robert Zaller
Review of books:
THE FIRST DEATH,
WITH THE PEOPLE FROM THE BRIDGE,
Z213: EXIT
One of the most original and significant texts to have come out of Europe in the past generation is Dimitris Lyacos’ poetic trilogy, Poena Damni. I call it ‘poetic’ because there is no word that quite describes a work that moves alternately between poetry, prose, and drama, and that turns each like a prism in a quest for meaning that yields no final stability but only a ‘further horizon of pain’ (The First Death, Section X). A Column of Cloud and a Column-of-Fire: Dimitris Lyacos’ Poena Damni, by Robert Zaller. JPR 07, September 2017. Sydney, Australia