Ilma Rakusa

Ilma Rakusa Poems

Ilma Rakusa Biography

Ilma Rakusa (born January 2, 1946, in Rimavská Sobota, Slovakia ) is a Swiss literary scholar, writer, and literary translator. Ilma Rakusa is the daughter of a Slovenian father and a Hungarian mother. Her early childhood she spent in Budapest, Ljubljana, and Trieste. In 1951 the family left in Switzerland down. Ilma Rakusa attended the Volksschule and the Gymnasium in Zurich. After graduation studied it from 1965 to 1971 Slavic and Romance languages in Zurich, Paris, and Leningrad. 1971 doctorate it with a literary work on "studies the subject of loneliness in Russian literature" to the doctor of philosophy. From 1971 to 1977 she was assistant to the Slavic seminary at the University of Zurich, where she has been teaching since 1977. In addition to this work, she is also a translator from French, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian and as a journalist ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Die Zeit ). Today, Ilma Rakusa lives as a freelance writer in Zurich. From 1971 to 1977 she was assistant to the Slavic seminary at the University of Zurich, where she has been teaching since 1977. In addition to this work, she is also a translator from French, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian and as a journalist ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Die Zeit ). Today, Ilma Rakusa lives as a freelance writer in Zurich. From 1971 to 1977 she was assistant to the Slavic seminary at the University of Zurich, where she has been teaching since 1977. In addition to this work, she is also a translator from French, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian and as a journalist ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Die Zeit ). Today, Ilma Rakusa lives as a freelance writer in Zurich. Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian and as a publicist ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Die Zeit ). Today, Ilma Rakusa lives as a freelance writer in Zurich. Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian and as a publicist ( Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Die Zeit ). Today, Ilma Rakusa lives as a freelance writer in Zurich. Rakusa is a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt and the expert jury of the Zug translator scholarship.)

The Best Poem Of Ilma Rakusa

[to Joseph Brodsky]

Was the sofa red?
The transatlantic trunk
stood there like a boat
bound for America.
Flag trunk books all
on an even keel. You left
so suddenly but from a need
and as it tumed out
for ever. Now you are dead.

Translated by Andrew Winnard

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