Almost 1 Book / Almost 1 Life (Dichten =)

Poetry. Fiction. Translated from the German by Rosmarie Waldrop. This volume contains almost all of Elfriede Czurda's first book and all of her second, Fast 1 Leben. Czurda comes out of the experimental Wiener Gruppe. She is especially fond of letting repetition and permutation shift words through their whole gamut of meanings - and sometimes beyond. However, she is also not averse to thumbing her nose at any rigidities, even those of the experimental imperative. In ALMOST 1 LIFE (novella? politico-cultural satire?) , the ruling avant-garde has licenced "monomania" as official language and punishes misuse by expelling the offender - into reality. Which is where Czurda positions herself. She combines exploring language with exploring the social power structures embedded in it - all with lots of fun and humor.