Silly Season

Silly season in poetry book titles is back ... "The Motorway Service Station that is a tourist destination in its own right" only takes second place in the grunge rankings after "Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man-Eating Tiger Toy-Machine!!!" Are we supposed to take this crap seriously? They are not even funny in the slightest...

Words of Wisdom

If you have little or nothing to say, it's a good idea to shut up.

Literary Translation II

Naffis-Sahely in PN Review 199 - Logue's Translation of Homer

"There is no definitive Homer and never will be. No single translator, not even the best, can lay claim to a work; all one can aspire to is a temporary lease. Matthew Arnlod had some good advice for would-be translators: be rapid, plain, direct and finally - noble".

"As with Pound's Cathay , it benefits from the LACK OF ANY AND ALL AWARENESS OF THE ORIGINAL" (my capitals)

I would not undergo surgery performed by a watchmaker, so why the hell do publishers allow monolinguists to translate!?!?!?!?!

Reading

I managed to attract around 40 people to my official presentation reading of Weathering - and less than half were friends or acquaintances!

Review - Recensione

Book Presentation - Presentazione Libro

In Praise of Translators

Iain Bamford in PN Review 198, commenting on the complexity of Kant’s writing style, notes:
“The canonical English translation of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason prepared by the Scottish philosopher Norman Kemp Smith has remained in print since its publication in 1929 and is reputedly more intelligible – even to German-speakers – than the original.”
Three cheers for translators at last!!!