Hardness of Matter and Water

The Hardness of Matter and Water fulfills a poetic odyssey Québécois poet Pierre Nepveu began more than four decades ago. Through a sequence of four prose poems, his anonymous protagonist walks from the heart of present-day Montreal into its southwestern margins, where the metropolis began centuries ago and which now "lays out its memories on the young grass." Questioning his sense of belonging, social unease and mortality as he walks, and following "a shadowy voice that neither sings nor speaks," Nepveu transports readers across wide spans of history, geography, metaphysics and speculation.

Duritatea materiei si a apei indeplineste o odisee poetica Poetul québécois Pierre Nepveu a inceput acum mai bine de patru decenii. Printr-o succesiune de patru poezii in proza, protagonistul sau anonim pleaca din inima Montrealului actual in marginile sale de sud-vest, unde a inceput metropola cu secole in urma si care acum „isi expune amintirile pe iarba tanara”. Intrebandu-si sentimentul de apartenenta, nelinistea sociala si mortalitatea in timp ce merge si urmand „o voce umbroasa care nici nu canta, nici nu vorbeste”, Nepveu transporta cititorii pe parcursuri largi de istorie, geografie, metafizica si speculatii.