Janko Polić Kamov – The Curse – Psovka

My second book of the work of Janko Polić Kamov is the translation of his collection of nine poems which he published in 1907 – ‘Psovka‘ (‘The Curse‘).
The poems featured are:
Preludij – The Prelude
Pjesma nad Pjesmama – Song of Songs
Job
Mojsije – Moses
Pjesma suncu – Song to the Sun
Intermezzo
Dan mrtvih – Day of the Dead
Ledeni blud – Icy Debauchery
Finale

Kamov-Curse-front-cover

Also included are two articles: ‘Poe‘ – Kamov’s impression of Edgar Allan Poe and ‘Beneath the Aeroplane‘ his contemporaneous view of the beginnings of human aviation in Europe. Another addition is a collection of aphorisms published after his death in the Italian Futurist journal ‘Lacebra‘ in 1913.

I reconstructed the cover of the original 1907 edition.

It is available as a paperback, 50 pages, and ebook edition via Amazon.com here and Amazon.de, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.uk and also via many ebook channels such as Apple Books etc.

It is also available to buy from the publishers Modernist in Varaždin.

ebook ISBN: 978-1-912924-96-7
Printed edition ISBN-10: 1095863789 ISBN-13: 978-1095863787

You can listen to an online interview with me for Radio Rojc about translating Kamov and publishing in English here

Thank you to everyone who helped me with finishing this translation 🙂

Janko Polić Kamov – Lacerba, 1913

In the 15th June 1913 issue of the Italian literary journal ‘Lacerba‘ there appeared a page of maxims or aphorisms entitled ‘Accenni‘ attributed to one ‘Gian Paolo’.

Lacerba‘ was published in Florence from 1913-1915, edited by Giovanni Papini and was associated with the emerging Futurist movement. This particular issue amongst others also featured pieces by leading figures such as Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Ardengo Soffici, Max Jacob and even an illustration by Pablo Picasso.

Kamov’s text appeared alongside the works of Pablo Picasso, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and Ardengo Soffici.

Kamov’s maxims appeared in the same issue of ‘Lacerba‘ as a Picasso drawing

Vladimir Čerina, an exponent of Kamov, was also a contributor. It was most likely under his auspices that these fragments of Kamov’s maxims were included under the pseudonym of ‘Gian Paolo’, in ‘Lacerba’ in 1913, in Italian, three years after his death. Čerina had alluded to their publication in his study of Kamov published earlier in the same year, although they were not properly authenticated until the mid-1980s by Tonko Maroević and Dragutin Tadijanović.

Vladimir Čerina – Janko Polić Kamov, 1913

You can read my English translations of Kamov’s aphorisms in my book ‘The Curse‘. This is a reproduction of Kamov’s collection of poems that he originally published in 1907 under the title ‘Psovka‘.

Kamov’s 1907 edition and my modern edition in English with all the poems plus essays ‘Beneath the Aeroplane’, ‘Edgar Allan Poe’, and his ‘Aphorisms.’

You can buy ‘The Curse‘ from Modernist nakladništvo here.

It is also available as an ebook from Amazon and other ebook sellers.