Translation by John Taylor
Philippe Jaccottet was born in Switzerland in 1925 and is a long-time resident of France. His most recent collections of poems and poetic prose texts include Ce Peu de bruits (These Slight Noises, 2008), Et, néanmoins (And, Nonetheless, 2001),and Cahier de verdure (Notebook of Greenery, 1990). Jaccottet has translated numerous German, Italian, and Spanish writers and poets into French. He is also the author of several volumes of literary criticism. In 2010, he was awarded the Schiller Prize, the highest Swiss literary distinction. His collected writings will be published in 2011 as a volume in Gallimard’s prestigious “Pléiade” series.
Photo by Jacques Sassier