'Z' was an Eastern Bloc spy who at one time operated in London. He was recalled home, probably to be retired, and nothing further has been heard of him: all that we have to go on is a notebook of 40 startling poems that he left behind. Even his designation 'Z' seems to have been a private code, for a self which he kept even more secret than his undercover work – the self revealed in the poems, which are as much about his family and his childhood on a farm in Eastern Europe as they are about his espionage activities.
The poems, written in English, are presented for publication by Paul Hyland, who believes that the pressures of Z's double life brought him to the shattering moral and emotional crisis which the poems record, and that 'in this crisis of self-examination Z became a poet.
'Z asks "What does the heart know", and writes of his own tenderness and violence, duplicity and openness, his faithlessness and spiritual hunger. From his world within our world, employing our language, he cast a cool eye on England, "the England I love"… Here we have an extraordinary view of an extraordinary poetic development.' (Paul Hyland)
- ISBN13 9780906427446
- Publish Date 22 July 1982
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 13 October 2006
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Bloodaxe Books Ltd
- Format Paperback
- Pages 64
- Language English