What Now Is Now Is Now - (The Slovak List) by Nóra Ruzicková (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A selection of poems that blend raw imagery with experimental forms, offering a vivid exploration of the body, language and shifting identities.

Nóra Ruzičková's poetry merges bodily experience with linguistic experimentation, evolving from self-reflection to an exploration of the complexities of gender and Central European identity. Her work deftly weaves personal narratives with political and social commentary, forging poems that are both intellectually provocative and deeply embodied.

This selection spans nearly 25 years, tracing her work from a late-millennium debut to her latest, most socially engaged collection, which explores novelty within the grand narratives of modern history and critiques humanity's obsession with progress. Through her poems, she challenges the boundaries of language, blending physicality with abstraction through a combination of potent imagery and philosophical reflection. Her poetry treats the body as a space where meaning is simultaneously created and dismantled, probing themes of identity, existence and the instability of interpretation. By experimenting with materiality, bodily experience and the ever-changing mediascape, Ruzičková captures the complexities of contemporary human life and dissolves the divide between language and physical reality. In its concluding section, the selection confronts pivotal historical moments and humanity's relentless pursuit of progress, making for a powerful, thought-provoking engagement with the present.

About the Author

Nóra Ruzicková is a pioneering experimental poet in Slovak literature. She is also an intermedia artist, translator, and teacher. She is based in Bratislava and has published seven poetry collections and co-authored two volumes with artist Marianna Mlynárciková. Ivana Hostová is a translator, critic, and translation studies scholar affiliated with the Institute of Slovak Literature at the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Department of Translation Studies at Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia.