GONNER, Nicolas: Prairie Flowers (Bd. 21)

In 1883, the newspaper editor Nicolas Gonner, who had emigrated to the United States in the 1860s, published a collection of Luxembourgish poems. In it, he presents 62 poems by three authors from his home country: Jean-Baptiste Nau, who lived for a short time in Detroit before heading back to Luxembourg; Nicolas Edouard Becker, who emigrated with his parents to Wisconsin when he was eleven years old and spent the rest of his life as a farmer, school teacher, writer and politician among his Luxembourg American compatriots; and finally Nicolas Gonner himself, best known for his history of Luxembourgish emigration to North America, The Luxembourgers in the New World.

Prairie Flowers was meant as a present from the authors to their friends back in Europe. The poems describe immigrant life in the Midwest – from the pioneering days to the celebration of traditional Luxembourgish holidays – and they retell old legends about medieval Luxembourgish kings and mighty Indian chiefs.

This edition comprises Sandra Schmit’s perceptive translation of all 62 poems, as well as detailed background information about the work, the authors and the Luxembourg American community in the 19th century. The original Luxembourgish edition was published by the CNL in 2008.