Nioque of the Early-Spring by Francis Ponge

For international orders, please visit our distributor, here. On the 50th anniversary of its publication, The Song Cave is honored to publish the first English translation of Francis Ponge's Nioque of the Early-Spring. Ostensibly a book written to honor the season itself and the cycle of time, upon its release in France in May 1968, these notes took on a greater metaphorical meaning within this context, addressing the need for new beginnings and revolution. Translated by Jonathan Larson.   “April is not always the cruelest month. In these stray notations dated early April 1950, Ponge provides a latter-day version of Stravinsky’s Sacre du printemps or of William Carlos Williams’ Spring and All—a vernal enactment of all the resurrectional energies of a springtime-to-come, as witnessed firsthand at the farmhouse of “La Fleurie” in southern France. When subsequently published in Tel Quel in May 1968, eighteen years later, Ponge’s rural, pastoral text now acquired a specific urban history