In Gabriel Josipovici’s discussion of his “book of the year” (tomorrow’s Times Literary Supplement) he writes the following:
Peter Handke’s long poem Gedicht an die Dauer came out in 1986 and has
only just been brought out in English, as To Duration, in a fine
translation by Scott Abbott, from the small press, Cannon Magazine.
That the same person could write Offending the Audience, Essay on
Tiredness, Repetition and this poem is quite remarkable. Handke is one
of the shining literary lights of our time and it says a great deal
about the insularity of our culture that this profound and beautiful
poem has had to wait almost thirty years to appear in English.
Josipovici is a brilliant novelist and thoughtful critic. See my thoughts on his novel Infinity: The Story of a Moment HERE.
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About Scott Abbott
I received my Ph.D. in German Literature from Princeton University in 1979. Then I taught at Vanderbilt University, BYU, and Utah Valley State College. At Utah Valley University, I directed the Program in Integrated Studies for its initial 13 years and was also Chair of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy for three years. My publications include a book on Freemasonry and the German Novel, two co-authored books with Zarko Radakovic (REPETITIONS and VAMPIRES & A REASONABLE DICTIONARY, published in Serbo-Croatian in Belgrade and in English with Punctum Books), a book with Sam Rushforth (WILD RIDES AND WILDFLOWERS, Torrey House Press), a "fraternal meditation" called IMMORTAL FOR QUITE SOME TIME (University of Utah Press), and translations of three books by Austrian author Peter Handke, of an exhibition catalogue called "The German Army and Genocide," and, with Dan Fairbanks, of Gregor Mendel's important paper on hybridity in peas. More famously, my children are in the process of creating good lives for themselves: as a model and dance/yoga studio manager, as a teacher of Chinese language, as an ecologist and science writer, as a jazz musician, as a parole officer, as a contractor, as a seasonal worker (Alaska and Park City, Utah), and as parents. I share my life with UVU historian Lyn Bennett, with whom I have written a cultural history of barbed wire -- THE PERFECT FENCE (Texas A&M University Press). Some publications at http://works.bepress.com/scott_abbott/
THE GOALIE'S ANXIETY 
Yes!
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Ditto! Am giving this poem a close read. And when I say “this poem”, I mean this translation. More later…..
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