The World by Evening

Menno Wigman (1966–2018) is one of the most celebrated poets in the Netherlands, with many awards to his name, and his early death sent shock-waves through the Dutch literary world. His work has been placed in the tradition of European Romanticism. At times echoing Baudelaire, and equally preoccupied with the darker sides of urban life, Wigman has been called the dandy of disillusion. But his poems are never indulgent and tend to move from doubt to recommitment, from ironic detachment to passionate engagement. His work is stormy, full of tension, scathing one moment and tender the next, with an uncompromising self-scrutiny implicit in the undertaking. He offers us poetry as ‘divine trauma’: a raw lyricism that refuses any easy coming to terms. Now that his work is increasingly appearing in translation, Wigman is beginning to be recognised as an important voice in European poetry. Award-winning translator and poet Judith Wilkinson put together this new English selection in consultation with Wigman. It was completed shortly before his death.