Cartouches

Eugenia Sojka teaches English at the Memorial University of
Newfoundland.

Lola Lemire Tostevin’s fifth book of poetry is a fascinating
exploration of language, genre, and the process of multiple
translations. Tostevin dedicates these poems, which she calls “small
amulets,” to the memory of her father. Accompanying her mourning is a
realization that writing about grief defies all rules and that “a real
danger [is] in the act of translation.” In her exploration of Egyptian
culture, Tostevin summons up such powerful female figures as Seshat (the
real “Mistress of the House of Books”), Isis, Hathor, and
Hatshepsut. Images of ancient Egypt are in constant juxtaposition with
those of the West, from Sleeping Beauty to Andy Warhol, as the poet
demonstrates how perception is shaped by culture.

Cartouches recalls the hieroglyphic writing of Egypt (which allows for
“co-habitation, within the same graphic code, of figurative, symbolic,
abstract, and phonetic elements”) in its recog-nition of the
importance of the empty space on the page—a space where “anything
could blossom”—and in its deliberate confusion of literary forms.
Combining intellect, passion, and love of language, this book is a
must-read.