Description
Ivan Goll’s Troisième Livre de Jean Sans Terre (“The Third Book of John Lackland”) is the final installment in a trilogy of poetic prose chronicling the mythical wanderings of “Jean Sans Terre,” a kind of modern everyman adrift in the ruins of Europe. Written on the brink of World War II and published in 1939, this volume pulses with a surreal blend of fatalism, lyricism, and satire. Goll—French-German poet, pacifist, and one-time Surrealist—is here at his most stripped-down and prophetic, channeling a post-Dada skepticism and sense of exile that feels remarkably relevant. The inclusion of a skeletal figure by famed illustrator Demetrios Galanis—wry, menacing, dancing—perfectly underscores the book’s tone: grim yet mischievous, absurd yet mournful.
This particular copy bears a striking inscription from Goll to composer Marcel Mihalovici, praising him as the “creator of a Genesis” and the “chants of the end of the world,” and signing off with “amical admiration.” It’s a powerful association between two significant figures in mid-century European modernism—poet and composer, both engaged in apocalyptic and visionary work on the eve of war.
A rare and haunting relic of prewar Europe—beautifully printed, deeply felt, and really almost never seen like this.
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