Irregularity
August 29th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
So I’ve been spending quite a bit of time over the last month or so doing research for two things: a writing project for which I have received NLAC funding and another project dealing with translating Horace, which I’ve referenced here. It seems I’ve done more reading about these topics than actual writing, but still I’ve been making some progress and I’ll be happy to see where these things go.
I’ve been lining up so much reading that I’m starting to get bogged down in it. In an effort to patch some of the holes in my reading of the classics of English, I’ve taken up Joyce’s Dubliners. It’s turning out to be better than I thought, which is always a good result. I’ve also started Stephen Fry’s (yes, you heard right) guide to writing poetry called The Old Less Travelled. It’s really intended for amateurs or people wishing to experiment with forms and approaches to writing, but it’s an entertaining read thus far. More on this when I complete the thing. I’m going through a couple of books of poetry as well: Chris Banks’ The Cold Panes of Surfaces and Don McKay’s Strike/Slip which, surprisingly, I have not yet read in full, though I have read excerpts here and there. “Pond” from this collection is a piece of brilliance.
Jake Mooney from Vox Populism has posted a couple of photos of the Poetry is Public is Poetry display at the Toronto Reference Library. It’s a project run by Dionne Brand, the poet laureate of the city, as a way of making public excerpts of poetry written by a variety of writers who have had some impact on the community. Jake includes a list of all who’ve had their work displayed on the wall as well. I must say, this is a wonderful idea and a great way to publicize poets who, though they have relatively small readerships compared to the James Patterson types, contribute an incredible amount to the world of literature and indeed to culture as a whole. Is there room, I wonder, for this kind of presentation in Newfoundland? Maybe in the St. John’s area? In recent years, we have had poems posted on buses and public transit, but I don’t recall having this sort of long-term, stationary presentation. Maybe someone can clarify this for me.
Enough for now.
The Wild Outdoors
July 25th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
I’ve been away from the blog for the last week or so due to being on what amounts to summer vacation. I know as a secondary teacher I have most of the summer off, but this past week I set aside for a camping trip to Gros Morne National Park, quite possibly the most beautiful area in Newfoundland and Labrador. My wife and I usually go every couple of years, but have managed to go two years in a row now, making for plenty of camping fun. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a trip without bringing the labs, who love the place almost as much as we do.
Since arriving back home I’ve managed to translate two Latin poems (at least in the literal sense; I still have to make them into poems for English). I’m getting a lot out of this exercise, realizing that some of the translations of Horace I have read previously are quite different than the original text. Some translators have taken incredible liberties with the work, perhaps to make it more appealing to their contemporaries. This is, of course, different than actually translating a work incorrectly, which I have discovered can be the case. There are difficult passages in Horace, complete with nuance and subtlety that requires time to work through and I’m finding that it’s beneficial to refer to other translations to see how mine differ.
This all reminds me of what a Latin professor said to me one day about how lax the world of translating has become: he referred to a, then recent, translation of Homer commissioned by a publishing house where the translator didn’t even know Homeric Greek. Instead of translating from the original text, the work would be done from other English translations. To me this seems like a completely pointless exercise. How much of the original intent will be lost, especially if the quality of the English translations being used have not been assessed? Wild insanity.
Speaking of Translation
July 13th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
It seems the Guardian has posted this article covering some of the tempestuous history of the independent publisher Dedalus Books, which has primarily focused on making foreign language texts available in English. In the past Dedalus has centered on European works, but is recently branching off into those from Africa. Quite interesting. I remember in university, one of the texts for a Medieval culture course I took was called The Dedalus Book of Medieval Literature: The Grin of the Gargoyle, an excellent collection that contained less known poems and stories from all over Europe during the Middle Ages. One of the more memorable of which was a poem by Dafydd ap Gwilym entitled “Cywydd y gal” in the Welsh. Some dirty, dirty poets back in the day.
In any event, the trials and tribulations of the independent book publisher are well enough known in today’s market climate. These guys seem to be fighting through it, however
