num_pages: 123
description: We too stop to smell the night.The wind is nothing but air. Naked. The streetsare cold with wind, every smell has faded.Nostrils lift to the flickering lightsThe first book of poetry by the celebrated Italian novelist Cesare Pavese (winner of Italy's Premio Strega, 1950), Hard Labor is made accessible here in English, in the full range of its depth and compassion, by the eminent classicist and translator William Arrowsmith.From the gentle sound of rain on the sea and the smell of changing weather to the savagery of youthful sexual attraction and the half-life of dreams, Hard Labor is alive with the moments, the passion and anguish, of ordinary people as they work, love, live out their lives. Magnificent in their humanness, these poems represent a new measure of clarity: they embody the pace of daily life without losing the intensity of language or emotion.
language: English
title: Hard Labor: Poems
titlecomplete: Hard Labor: Poems
genres: Fiction, 20th Century, Italy, Italian Literature, Poetry
ratings_count: 544
awards: awardedAt: 315561600000
name: National Book Award
category: Translation
publisher: Grossman/Viking