Zwischen den Zeilen

'‹Zwischen den Zeilen› (which means ‹Between the Lines›) has frankly become essential reading for anyone who wants to know what's going on at the cutting edge of German poetry, and these two large volumes show why. ZdZ is tough stuff, but every issue has material to both delight and astonish. I opened no. 22 with great relish, given the presence of the Austrian poet Franz Josef Czernin, and I was not disappointed. Here he offers an essay in verse (‹Die Metapher. Die Transsubstantiation›), and some quite remarkable translations of Shakespeare sonnets. The issue also contains some fine new work by the Swiss poet, Felix Philipp Ingold, plus his translations of Russian translations of Shakespeare sonnets (sic) – all three versions are given here, plus an literal German version of the Russian. Fascinating material. Finally there's the German (but Vienna-resident) poet Benedikt Ledebur with his own recent work and his translations of John Donne. This is, in short, a deeply serious issue and one that contains a great many pleasures.' (Tony Frazer, shearsman)