 Cover of Dimitris Lyacos' The First Death, Second Edition, 2017 | |
| Author | Dimitris Lyacos |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ο πρώτος θάνατος |
| Translator | Shorsha Sullivan |
| Cover artist | Fritz Unegg |
| Language | English |
| Series | Poena Damni |
| Genre | Poetry World Literature, Expressionism, Postmodernism |
| Publisher | Shoestring Press |
Publication date | 26 October 2017 (Second Revised Edition) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Paperback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 37 pages (first edition), 58 pages (second edition) |
| ISBN | 978-1-899549-42-9 |
| OCLC | 45991303 |
| Preceded by | With the people from the bridge (2014) |
The First Death is a book by Dimitris Lyacos. It is part of the Poena Damni trilogy. The book tells the story of a marooned man on a desert island in a sequence of fourteen poem sections, recounting his relentless struggle for survival as well as his physical and mental disintegration. The work alludes simultaneously to a modern Philoctetes, an inverted version of Crusoe as well as the myth of the dismemberment of Dionysus. The dense and nightmarish imagery of the poem, replete with sensations of hallucination, delirium, synesthesia, and putrefaction has drawn comparisons to Lautreamont, Trakl and Beckett.[1][2] Despite being first in the publication history of the Poena Damni trilogy, The First Death is chronologically last in the narrative sequence.[3]
- ^ Woodhouse, Jena (4 May 2000). "Lyacos: A "feast of all fruits"". International Herald Tribune/Kathimerini English Edition.
- ^ Denegris, Tassos; Solomos, Dionysios (2001). "Dimitris Lyacos". The Journal of Modern Greek Studies. 19. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ Mason, Fran (2016). Historical dictionary of postmodernist literature and theater (2 ed.). Lanham. pp. 276–277. ISBN 978-1-4422-7620-8. OCLC 959698473.
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