Kosti's Kostro

Kosti?s Kostro is the first of several projected Richard Kostelanetz homages through imaginative appropriation of his most important predecessors. Much as RK has been called Kosti by his oldest friends, so Wilhelm Albert W?odzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki, commonly known as the French poet Apollinaire, was called Kostro by his buddies. For Kosti?s Kostro Richard Kostelanetz takes his predecessor?s classic manifesto ?The New Spirit and the Poets? and subjects it one paragraph at a time to two levels of translation into English?the first ?automatically? through Google, the second as Kosti?s rewriting. Across from it as a continuous counterpoint appear some Kosti manifestoes reflecting the influence of Kostro?s classic essay. As an appendix, the book has Kosti?s personal translation of Kostro?s monumental poem ?Zone.?