August 28, marks the 60th anniversary of the historic speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington. This powerful and visionary speech can be found on the NPR link below.
https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-dream-speech-in-its-entirety
August is also Women in Translation Month, so I am mentioning some fine translations and also out great translators, with a special salute to Natasha Wimmer, one of the greatest of all. Sorry about the overuse of the word ANYWAY, I guess I am still a little tired and should have redone this video, but it’s what I did and I always feel like I am talking directly to you. Doing a better one isn’t always better, so here it is. I also am including below the cover of Clarice Lispector’s Too Much of Life.
Perhaps you could offer your discoveries of women in translation….
Give good ole Cairo a stroke from me all the way from Oz for that bit of extra care that she so richly deserves😊
I recommend Tova Jansson's The Summer Book. She's best known for her Moomins, but this deceptively childlike book holds new depths and si beautifully translated by Kathryn Davis for NYRB.
Thank you for this wonderful talk. I just found your newsletter after seeing your concert in Toronto and I am so happy I did.
I suppose it's no longer August, but I'll still recommend the works of Magda Szabó in translation... I have read Abigail and The Door, and I think a few of her other works were translated as well. Abigail is a rare book that is appropriate for teenagers but very adult in perspective-- I was shocked to find myself in tears at the end of it, in the way it is about a young girl in Hungary during World War II realizing that the things she had selfishly viewed as injustices or misfortunes were manifestations of the love and care of people around her all along.
I had planned on going to see Patti's show in Pioneer Town CA, but at the last minute I couldn't go. I was out shooting photos in the AZ desert and thought I might be able to see Patti in the AZ Desert so I made this. hope it works.
http://cdbullen.com/images/PattiontheDesert.v2.jpg
We had a 22-year-old cat. I get it.
Your hair looks great, Patti! Wild in the right kind of way (and so does Cairo's, though more tamed). Thanks a lot for the women in translation's recommendations. I'd strongly recommend to everyone here "People in the Room", by Argentinian author Norah Lange and translated by Charlotte Whittle for And Other Stories in the UK, and also the novels and short stories of Mexican Fernanda Melchor, translated for Fitzcarraldo by Sophie Hugues.
Merci Patti. Vous êtes magnifique comme vos cheveux.
A little late to the game on this one... Speaking of women in translation, I have wondered for years whether you've read Olga Tokarczuk. Another commenter recommended her book Flights -- I second that and also would like to put a word in for The Books of Jacob. I always enjoy your book talks!
Thank you Patti.
I just finished rewatching the movie Dreaming Murakami. It’s about the Danish translator of Murikami, Mette Holm. I think it is really thoughtfully done. Have you seen it?
You are always my sunshine
Happy to have some , Thank you 😊
besides being a unique writer, Clarice Lispector was also a translator ❤️💐. love, from Brasil
Ann Goldstein’s translations of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet is my personal favorite!
I have to second the people who mentioned Emily Wilson's Odyssey. It's wonderful. Her Iliad is scheduled to be published next month and I can't wait.
Bless Cairo
Love these book talks. I wish you could solve the backwards view. Or I am thinking I could hold my phone up to a mirror and watch the video reflected! Glad you are home with your kitty cat.
Women in translation month. Yes. Let it be. You all are bright as flash bulbs. 2666 is an entry to the rest of Bolano. As well equally that trans sends you to ask your neighbor what is up?
Hey Patti! I’m lookin at the big orange Blood Blue moon! It’s the same moon you’re lookin at (I hope!- it’s aMAZING!) xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Hi.Patti, Yesterday, in 'x', which you are not very fond of, I told Oyamada that you had recommended two books to her and it went through. With my presumption, I am 'mutual followers' with Oyamada. As a reader, I enjoy this kind of mediation.
just so you know, your hair looks beautiful in this video, no worries. thank you for the book recommendations, I am trying to broaden my collection. I find myself rereading my favorites, maybe abit too often. enjoy the day.
❤️
Thank you, Patti for a great list. Shout out to Jhumpa Lahiri's translations of Italian. And translating her own English into Italian, "In Other Words."
Not about this post, but I just saw a selection of Ginsberg's photos on the Guardian site and there's a wonderful image of Patti Smith and William Burroughs. Worth checking out.
Lovely to see you this morning in London. Martin Luther King had a great influence on me as a teenager and it saddens me about what has happened and is still happening in our world but yes we’re all each other’s people and l will continue to hope🙏
I loved the stories from your travels and the women translators ( I’m making a list for some new reading) and l also enjoyed Roberto Bolono’s books. I also enjoyed his poems.
Hair is a constant problem for me too and you really made me laugh 😹 loved seeing Cairo she’s so beautiful. Thank you Patti.
Thank you for remembering Martin Luther King and his message to all of us. I’m sure we’ve disappointed him.
I want to say that I find your talks both relaxing and informative. Not a combination i experience very often. So appreciative of everything.
Thank you for your visit, Patti. Always illuminating and interesting with a touch of humor. I had to laugh out loud after your hair comment. Still chuckling.... your hair looks great btw.
So grateful to you! ❤️
Welcome home Patti... Cairo is beautiful. My last city kitty, Lightnin' lived to be 21. Quite the gift...
There’s an online benefit for Maui victims this Saturday. Some very talented musicians- please join us. https://open.substack.com/pub/stevekirsch/p/save-maui-concert-this-saturday-september?r=59dck&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I was a teenage Rilke stan & still am.
I stumbled across this collection of different translations of his poem, Autumn Day. Love the iterations.
https://teachersandwritersmagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Herbsttag.pdf
As much appreciated I am listening to your thoughts and travels where ever they may be like your 21 year's old companion I too feel more comfortable with you safe and sound back home. Peace Love
This visit was so filled with information and inspirational recommendations, which I have written down with hopes to find some of the books, and to actually sit and read them. Glad you are home and you ARE speaking directly to each of us. Thanks for the link to Dr. King's speech. I never tire of listening to it. I'm laughing about your "preoccupation" of getting your hair to where you want it. I think all of us have that same problem. I use a "shiner" to keep those gray pieces in line. But it, too, doesn't seem to work for long. I love seeing Cairo....and you together with her. See you soon.....
Thank you for sharing your, energy, your wisdom & your familiar Cairo.
Thank you for the book suggestions, I have picked up several of the ones you've mentioned before and enjoyed them very much. I love the casual conversations here. Is it strange to communicate with so many at once? In the past you communicated primarily through the music you released and perhaps an interview, but this feels different. It seems like this format allows for more casual and intimate conversation, like you've invited us into your house (which you have done virtually) but there's no problem with a few hundred or so friends crowding into your bedroom.
Still August - A few more thoughts. Patti, you and this community are on my mind.
"I meant to do my work today..." That first line from Richard Gallienne's sweet poem loops thru
my head, while I remain seated in front of a screen, looking further into each recommended author.
Literary overload. I'll take heed of the last line - "So what could I do but laugh and go" and make my way to the creek. A good day to all.
Cairo♥️
As a former 1st grade teacher who enjoyed teaching children to read, I so appreciate your love of books. You are such a model for those of us who love reading. Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Teeny Tiny Teacher)
You've made a lot of people happy doing the hard work of touring. Welcome back to your nest of peace. Thank you for sharing your nourishing ideas, book suggestions, and Cairo with us. ❤️
You have always shined a light on translators and I thank you for that. ❤️
I totally relate to the What’s Wrong With My Hair game!
Thank you Patti, loved seeing Cairo too - 21yrs old is amazing... book suggestions always a gift thank you 🙏🏻
Welcome home from desert to the sea with a universal look to the sky in between.
Good to see you with Cairo back home in NYC . Looking forward to tracking down some of the books you mentioned. I really don’t have much knowledge of female translators other than the poet Kathleen Raine whose work has been a constant inspiration to me for many years.
She translated a beautiful collection of poems by Jean Mambrino called “Land of Evening” published by Enitharmon Press in 2004 which I have just taken from my pile of very disorganised books to re read in celebration of her and all the women who share their gift of translation. Thank you as always Patti . Enjoy home !
Love listening to you! Refreshing! How about Hungarian author Szabo's books?
Came to say this and glad to see some more love for her! <3
Love you Patti with i !
My book wish list is growing, and I'm looking forward to reading these new treasures that you've recommended! I'm always looking for something new and inspiring to read! I just finished Fulgentius by Aira (loved it!), and I just started reading Mount Analog! Cairo seems to be doing pretty good for 21, I saw her leap up on the bed and she did so with old kitty grace. It's funny how they adapt to old age and have moments of "kitten" still in them. My two old boys, who are in their early teens still have these sudden bursts of silliness in the morning and then sleep all day and have zoomies again in the evening, and then snooze some more. Your hair is lovely, and I do understand the flyaways that poke and tickle the face, I feel for you when you're picking at the air around your face, I have the same problem. My hair has been impossible with the humidity (then in the winter it's worse with the dry air and static.) I'm constantly wrapping it with a rolled bandana to keep it out of my face and put the rest up in a bun. I use some stuff, (I think it's called Infusium 23) It's a leave-in treatment to calm it down when I need to look nice. It's pretty good, it gets the tangles out too. Even better, my sister's ultra-sensitive nose doesn't mind it so she's not kicking me out of her car when we get together for lunch! Whatever works! (It was a treat to have my tea with you this morning!)
Joanna Macy's translation of Rilke. Joanna is an amazing woman whose life and work I think you would find fascinating. She is now 94, still alive and cheerful as ever.
View with a Grain of Sand. Selected Poems.written by
Szymborska, Wislawa.
tr.Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh is humorous,cheerful and easy to understand..
Gentle poetry does not tolerate ambiguity. Easy poems are stronger than difficult ones.Even if someone does not know the context in which her poems were written, the poems come easily to the mind.
Parting with a View
I don’t reproach the spring
for starting up again.
I can’t blame it
for doing what it must
year after year.
I know that my grief
will not stop the green.
The grass blade may bend
but only in the wind
― Wisława Szymborska, View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems.
Cavanagh really captures Szymborska’s voice. It’s no mean feat: her tone is straightforward, often humorous, full of an irony that manages not to be tinged with bitterness. I think the translation by Cavanagh is brilliant.
I love the collection of Szymborska’s advice column letters in
gah - partner just came home after fun sailing outing hit 30 knot winds. Much angst needed assuaging.
Anyway: How to Start Writing (and When to Stop) is the fun agony auntie Wislawa book of her responses.
Much fun.
Thank you everyone for the comments and reading suggestions. I like this theme and we can revisit in the future.
Another great female translated I don’t think yet mentioned is Barbara Bray who I know from Marguerite Duras translations.
https://youtu.be/IbcuhOh60wE?feature=shared AMERIGO we a go
That would be wonderful. Thank you so much for initiating and inspiring these great conversations about poetry and the imagination. They are a gift, a joy, a rescue.
I became aware of Lisa Dillman’s translations when I discovered Yuri Herrera’s trifecta of novels Signs Preceding the End of the World, The Transmigration of Bodies, and Kingdom Cons. These books knocked me right out. I’’ve been interrogating (thru literature) crossing borders and assimilating (or not) pretty much all my life. Discovering Yuri Herrera thru Lisa Dillman’s translations has been such gift during the plague years. I’m working my way thru her other translations - Andrés Barba, Juan Filoy, and others. She’s the real deal.
Hello Patti.
Speaking of translators, a mention goes to Ann Goldstein for having translated, among others, the great writer, poet and traslator herself, Elsa Morante.
bye! Have a nice day
Hair: I really love the wave and body of your hair here. For extra smoothing try this it's great https://www.gmreverie.com/products/milk-anti-frizz-leave-in-nourishing-treatment?gclid=CjwKCAjwrranBhAEEiwAzbhNtZNUhVk0PgcXgijSlxS8lLiOOV_MMhzvtDLbrcUkEpyUBQ3DQTlMVRoCiRIQAvD_BwE
I use it on damp and dry hair. (Sorry, can't help myself I've been doing hair for 25yrs)
Women translators: The Master and Margarita translated by Diana Burgin & Katherine Tiernan O' Connor is my favorite translation of bulgakov's "master-piece"
Cairo: looks so healthy for 21...beautiful creature who seems to have lived a very good life
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an offering this evening, without a translation.
Thank you - you are always immensely inspiring! My women in translation recommendation: Croatian writer Dasa Drndic (a unique voice and uncompromising) beautifully translated by Celia Hawkesworth ( novels Trieste, EEG, Belladona …)
I really enjoy learning about your bookshelf!
I can't offer any English translations, but I would like to mention two great translators whose books I admire. First, Theodora von der Mühll, who translated the letters of Madame de Sévigné into German. Madame de Sévigné, a French noblewoman at the court of Louis XIV, wrote fascinating letters that were widely read and quoted in her time. Her insights from that era are well worth reading (there is also an English translation of the letters by Sara Hale, if anyone would like to read them in English).
As for poetry, I recently discovered Annalisa Marí Pegrum. She has selected poems by female poets of the Beat Generation and translated them into French together with Sébastien Gavignet (the book is called Beat Attitude). The book includes a French translation of Leonore Kandel's Love Book. I'm also grateful that through this book I discovered and loved the work of Mary Korte, which is usually hard to come by here in Europe, although her poems are great.
Sorry for the long comment, I was just very excited about your question.
This was a great comment. Thank you. All was new to me as well.
Not long at all, and the works are new to me. Thank you.
With pleasure. Madame Sévigné's former home in Paris was later turned into the Carnavalet Museum, dedicated to the history of Paris, and has recently been beautifully renovated (Rue Sévigné, Marais). Her writing desk is displayed there. Here is a link to an article about her letters and biography.
https://www.parisupdate.com/letters-of-madame-de-sevigne/
Hey Patti,
It really delights me to watch/listen to your updates here on Substack, plus I learn so much about writers and all sorts of things I had never even heard of. And it makes me smile ear to ear to get a wee glimpse of Cairo, what a dote she is :) Thank you!
Many New Zealand musicians from all genres have had their songs translated into Te Reo Maori, the language spoken by the indigenous people of Aotearoa. Pop singer Lorde released a mini album of five of her songs in Te Reo. The singer Hinewehi Mohi has worked with Lorde and others, doing translations. Mohi received the highest honor in New Zealand for her service to Maori Music and Television.
Warms me to know Cairo has her Hu-man back in eyesight. Ironically (or maybe not so ironic!) I have been working my way through Myalis de Kerangal's MEND THE LIVING recommended to me by one of my English (town of Lewes!) cousins. The novel resonated with Joe in light of my recent life altering lung transplant which seems to have played into the protagonist own experience with life after a near death experience. And so this small read has moved its way up in my queue of mandatory bedside reading. I'll quietly sleep tonight...
Hello Patti 👋
"I have a dream" is probably the most famous and powerful anaphora in the world.
Since you are talking about a translated book, do you know when "A book of day" will be released in French?
"I have a dream" too, the announcement of a concert in France 🤔
I love you Patti 💙☕️❤️
Book of Days will be published September 28th. Thank you.
Thanks dear Patti 💙☕️❤️
I really enjoy watching your video posts, Ms. Smith, but I have a quibble: when you show us the cover of a book you are reading/recommending, the text is backwards. I am guessing that other people are having the same experience when watching the videos.
Yes I know, I can't figure out why it does that.
Welcome home, Patti. After your time on the road, it was great to see and listen to you from your home. It felt so intimate, like we were talking over black coffee.
I loved your recap of the things that struck you with awe on your tour. Your words about MLK, and the tragic assassinations of 1968, my senior year in high school, struck me deeply. Sadly, things are so much worse today, as epitomized the racist murder of 3 innocent black people simply out shopping on Saturday. Lawrence O’Donnell said it so well tonight: “This country has always had white supremacists, but never before white supremacists with AR-15’s.”
And thanks for the book recommendations. Will be ordering a bunch from Powell’s tomorrow.
Glad you're home safe and sound, Patti. It's especially good to see you in familiar surroundings.
Something akin to sitting with a dear friend just home from traveling, so many sights and sensations
to share...and there's always more. This time the gentle reminder of the "I Have A Dream Speech"-
and the sad reality of where things stand today, 60 years on. Thankfully there is work being done
every day by unknown activists to keep the dream alive in spite of challenges some of us can only
imagine.
I appreciate your acknowledgement of female translators and have added the new recommendations
to my ever growing list. All I have to offer you on the subject of translators is my gratitude for steering me to their shores. Heartfelt thanks.
Gratitude is a lot to offer!
These guys 😆 Butte Montana
That's exactly how most speak, or "how is herself doing?" LOL or
"Howsha' Goin" ♥️ just a few more.
Thank you for the book list!
Patti's Women In Translation List Of Books with + bonuses +
1. Season In Hell by Arthur Rimbaud
Translation by Louise Varèse
2. Space Invaders by Nona Fernández
Translation by Natasha Wimmer
+ The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández:
3. Weasels In The Attic by Hiroko Oyanada
Translation by David Boyd
+ The Hole by Hiroko Oyanada
4. Eastbound by Malis de Kerangel
Translation by Jessica Moore
5. The Death Of Virgil by Hermann Broch
Translation by Jean Starr Untermeyer
6. Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin
Translation by Patsy Southgate
Introduction by Patti Smith
Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you. That was very thoughtful.
In terms of translated women writers, I love the work of Violette Leduc, Simone de Beauvoir, and Colette. (NYRB just put out a beautiful new translation of Colette's Cheri and The End of Cheri.) In terms of women translators, I love Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey and am looking forward to her new translation of The Iliad.
I adore Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey! And am also looking forward to her Iliad. I’ve read every other translation of the Odyssey many times and Wilson - the first woman to translate it into English - has done an incredible job. Unlike anyone ever has. Thank you for mentioning her!
I am always happy to see Cairo, who is looking very sprightly for 21 years old! She has a very serious, noble sort of face which is so becoming on a cat.
Some recommended women in translation: anything by Fleur Jaeggy, Amparo Dávila (The Houseguest and Other Stories), Olga Tokarczuk (Flights), Margit Kaffka (The Ant Heap), Anna Elisabet Weirauch (The Scorpion), many others!
Beautifully flowing, Jim. Sending warmth and good energy.
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
Thank you for this post. Your knowledge and generosity have enriched my reading life. Nona Fernandez! A cool recommendation. Also, I love your hair and your love for Cairo.
Hello dear Patti and Cairo! I am sure she is happy you have returned home. I always love your book recommendations, especially the ones with which I am unfamiliar. This is a bonanza!
Welcome home Patti. I love your bedroom videos. Your room looks so serene and cosy, especially with Cairo nearby.
When I first saw you, like many people here, I thought your hair looked great! Nice to see you in your own digs and with Cairo too. Thank you for the book suggestions of women translators.
I'm headed to Detroit Friday to see a certain someone -- oh heck, it's Beck to perform again. I get to see some old friends of mine, some I haven't seen for two decades, that I used to go clubbing with. It's going to be great.
OMG I just picked up 2666 today at the used bookstore in excellent condition. I picked it off your recommended book list online.
I love translated literature, it gives us a whole other perspective on the world. After viewing an exhibition of Shirin Neshat's work I picked up some Iranian literature by Shahrnush Parsipur. She had been imprisoned for her book "Women Without Men". She also wrote a memoir of her time in Iran's prison "Kissing the Sword". Touba and the Meaning of the Night" is her most well known work. Highly recommend any of these titles for a sample of Iran's magical realism genre.
Such a.wonderful way to end the night. You remind me of a wise, beautiful friend I had for over 45 years. She was a poet who shared her philosophy, her favorite books, and her lovely soul with her friends and all her students. She enriched the lives of all who knew her. . . As you do. And she had beautiful white hair from the time she was 25. I laughed aloud when you mentioned your hair tonight. It was such a simple, honest aside after all the intellectual nuggets you gave us! Thank you for being yourself! I felt I was talking to my lifelong friend, Mary Lause.
I am glad that you had such a friend. I know just what you mean.
Thank you for your book/translation recommendations. And blessing for 21 year old Cairo and for you and your gifts to us all
Thank you for the reading recommendations Patti. I'm writing this on my mum's account because she was listening to your video (well, we were both listening...I was just eavesdropping from the other side of the room) and when I heard you talking about Nona Fernandez and the translated works of women, I said out loud, from the other side of the room "I wonder if Patti has read Clarice Lispector"...and sure enough, when I joined my mum by the computer and scrolled down your written thoughts, there was her name, and there was her face on the cover of Too Much of Life. I knew you must have known her work, it just makes sense. I'm sure you've read The Hour of the Star, her last novel that was published in the months just before her death in 1977. It was not translated by a woman, but Benjamin Moser does a very powerful and evocative job of conveying her words and the meaning behind them - better than other translators of hers, I would say. The acknowledgements in that book alone are enough to send one spiralling forever through her works, and the way she dances in and out of some celestial, starry void with her words is almost incomprehensible. I just finished a degree in writing and her writing has played a huge part in the inspiration of my own work. I'm glad to see you know her, and I'm very excited to go to my local bookstore and pick up Space Invaders and the rest.
Also, as an aside, I don't know if you recall but in 2013 you were in Toronto doing a book signing at the AGO, for Just Kids. I was fifteen and snuck out of school with a friend to meet you. We waited in the rain and you were so kind and patient with everyone, and I gave you a small letter. You seemed so touched, and you reached over and gave me your scarf. I sat on the floor of the subway with my friend on the way home, crying, and now at twenty six years old, it still hangs on my wall.
Thank you for everything, Patti, always. Looking up at the near-full moon tonight, thinking of your words and of language and of scattered dreams.... Hannah
(big thanks to my mum, Melissa, who is always right and is my very best friend and encouraged me all those years ago to pluck up the courage to write the letter and give it to you)
What a beautiful story. I’m so glad you have the scarf hanging on your wall. And so very glad you have such a great mum.
So glad you're home safe, Patti, and thank you for the book recommendations and August historical anecdotes. You are beyond generous to have filled our lives with posts as you traveled. My 16-year-old black tomcat was so happy when you pulled Cairo into the picture (he has a crush on her). PS - Your hair is positively radiant, as always, and the envy of many I'm sure. Sending much love and comfort your way as you nestle in back home…xoxo
Today is my 67th birthday - I’m so grateful for another year under my belt. Good to read your post - adds to my birthday celebration!
Happy belated birthday Christine! May the coming year be a wonderful one.
Thank you so much, Robin!
Happy Birthday, Christine. May you have a year full of laughter, adventure, and good health!
Thank you, Lisa! Life is rarely dull!
Happy Birthday Christine
Thank you, Jayne!
Happy birthday Christine 🦋
Thank you, Patti. 🥰
From the desert to the sea, welcome home. Time to hit the books! Thank you for this excellent appreciation of women in translation. And for the appreciation of the 60th anniversary of a Dream. A beautiful Cairo cameo appearance. Good kitty. No one is better than mommy.:)
Thank you very much for sharing about the great translation books - very interesting. And I loved seeing Cairo!
Welcome home, Patti, and thank you for this greeting. I was so happy to see you reunited with Cairo, whom I have no doubt has many wonderful people caring for her while you are on tour. But she always seems so connected to you, and you to her.
Thank you for telling us about the beautiful things you saw on your tour: the sky full of stars; the succulence of Joshua Tree; the wharf in Seattle; the sound of your voice in MSG. I can understand what you mean about it being harder (or more exhausting) traveling in America. It is our manifest destiny.
Speaking of America, thank you for the link to MLK’s speech. After all this time, its power never lessens, the sadness that its promise remains unfulfilled never ceases. I try to remind myself that he truly believed that “[w]e shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.” (From his speech “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution,” given at the National Cathedral, March 31, 1968. )
Thank you for telling us about August being women in translation month. The books you shared are wonderful. I adore “Space Invaders” and “The Hole.” I once spent over a year reading and writing about “The Death of Virgil.” I also love the work of Albertine Sarrazin, especially “Astragal.” Thank you for your efforts to get it reprinted. Your introduction is wonderful. Clarice Lispector, whom you show but didn’t discuss, is among my most beloved writers. There is a wonderful 2018 edition of Lispector’s complete stories translated by Katrina Dodson that I can’t recommend highly enough. For those who want a sample, here is the link to a very short, extraordinary story by Lispector (translated by Dodson), called “Love.” The way I think of this story is that, unlike a story like “The Dead,” by James Joyce, where the epiphany comes at the end, in “Love,” the epiphany (forged through empathy and a fluid visceral sense of humanity) comes just about in the middle. The rest of the story demonstrates how sickening — the nauseating loss of one’s orientation, boundaries, sense of a self separate from others — the epiphany can be. When it’s at the end of the story, as it traditionally is, we feel a satisfying sense of closure, both personal and moral. But the reality of the epiphany is another thing entirely, and no one depicts it more graphically than Lispector.
Here is the link to Lispector’s “Love”; I’d be interested in what others think:
https://theoffingmag.com/fiction/love-amor/
One more book I wanted to mention for women in translation is “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead,” by Olga Tokarczuk. I adore this book and it’s fitting for the month because the main character, Janina, lives reclusively in a Polish village. She studies astrology, translates William
Blake, and loves animals. The book is wonderful and translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.
I have to get back to work and I’ve gone on long enough, but Patti, thank you so much for this. Oh, and I don’t know why you worry about your hair. It’s beautiful. One thing I find is that brushing breaks hair and so I never brush mine. Your hair does NOT look broken or split, but less washing and brushing I find to be good tips. Just comb when wet (and I think you braid yours which is lovely).
Warmest wishes to everyone here, in what has become a home for my heart, and the hearts of all that I feel so nearly and dearly. Thank you, Patti, for being so welcoming. Thank you everyone, for joining in.
As ever,
Robin
Hi Patti, I highly recommend all the translated books by Hungarian writer Magda Szabó. My two favorites were both translated by Len Rix: The Door and Abigail. However, all of her books are wonderful. The Door was the first book I read for Women in Translation Month when it first began several years ago.
Cairo looks amazing for 21! You e taken excellent care of her.
Thank you for the recommendations.
Thanks for the link Robin - and the entire post.
Hope all is as well as can be.
You’re so welcome, Suzi. Thank you for your good thoughts. Sending good thoughts to you.
Thank you for sharing Lispector's short story. I just finished it and it demands a reread. The Dead is my favourite short story and I see why you mentioned it alongside Love. The last sentence in The Dead is, in my opinion, one of the greatest sentences ever written. The last sentence of this story struck me in the same way. So moving and so beautiful. Thanks again, Robin. Take good care.
I’m so glad that you read the story, Jim. Thank you for letting me know. I’m really glad you see the connection I make because they are so different. But Gabriel’s epiphany - the thing that enables him to transcend his self absorption (that’s not a criticism; just a fact) and envy is imagining poor Michael Furey, not as a rival or threat, but as a real suffering human being, moved by love to imperil himself with his singing. In a not dissimilar way (though entirely different stylistically), the main character of love is “moved” -- taken out of herself -- by the blind man she sees. And she is nauseated for the rest of the story. In “The Dead,” everything is blanketed by snow; in “Love,” we have the dishevelment of her being, undone by compassion, all her senses opened:
“The world had become once again a distress. Several years were crashing down, the yellow yolks were running. Expelled from her own days, it seemed to her that the people on the street were in peril, kept afloat on the surface of the darkness by a minimal balance — and for a moment the lack of meaning left them so free they didn’t know where to go. The perception of an absence of law happened so suddenly that Ana clutched the seat in front of her, as if she might fall off the tram, as if things could be reverted with the same calm they no longer held.
What she called a crisis had finally come. And its sign was the intense pleasure with which she now looked at things, suffering in alarm. The heat had become more stifling, everything had gained strength and louder voices . . . “
The experience of the epiphany ends, we see, toward the end of the story when we are told that “The dizziness of benevolence was over.” She is recomposed (although we know, always susceptible to such self-out-going):
“And, if she had passed through love and its hell, she was now combing her hair before the mirror, for an instant with no world at all in her heart. Before going to bed, as if putting out a candle, she blew out the little flame of the day.”
I absolutely agree that the last line of “The Dead” is among the greatest in the language. It is music, with its alliteration (“soul swooned slowly”); the rhymes (slowly/faintly; “end/dead); and the great chaismus (which is a kind of cross cross): “falling faintly/ faintly falling”:
“His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.”
A chaismus, by the way, (a repetition of words in reverse order) is one of the hardest things to achieve, although we encounter them every day: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”; or “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
Because I can’t not, among the greatest examples of chiasmus is from W.B. Yeats at the end of the heartrending poem (about the futility of war, spoken from the point of view of an airman) called “An Irish Airman Foresees his Death.” That poem ends with a TRIPLE chiasmus - almost unheard of - but if anyone could pull it off, it’s Yeats. Here’s the poem, which is short and well worth reading (you probably know it). Pay attention to the last four lines:
AN IRISH AIRMAN FORESEES HIS DEATH
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
☘️☘️☘️☘️
Unpacking the last four lines, you have have the a/b/a/b rhyme scheme (which persists throughout each quatrain of the continuous 16 line one stanza poem):
a) mind
b) breath
a) behind
b) death
The chiasmi are at first hard to find but look:
I balanced all ----> in balance with
The years to come -----> the years behind
The years to come seemed waste of breath ------> A waste of breath the years behind
And then the final line that almost puts us in mind of a plane, precariously balancing in the air: “In balance with this life, this death.”
I don’t think it’s an accident that both the last sentence of “The Dead” ends with the word “dead” and the last line of Yeats’s poem ends with “death.” And also that both are examples of Irish literature. There is music there that one finds nowhere else in the language.
Sorry for the tangent! But I’m so glad that you see what I mean about how epiphanies take one out of oneself, are often impelled by compassion, and are, in their way, destabilizing.
Wishing you all the best, Jim, and again, thank you for reading.
Thank you so much, Robin, for taking the time to write this. Having never taken a formal course in literature beyond high school, I had not heard of the term 'chaismus' before though I certainly recognize the technique. Your essay illustrated it beautifully. I'm so glad you included the Yeats poem. I had read it before but you illuminated the last four lines in a way that was mind-expanding. I'm so glad we share an admiration for the last line of The Dead. Every time I read it, I get chills - and not just because of the snow. Thanks again for this and for all you add to this site. All the best to you, Robin.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read all of that, Jim. I’m sorry that I get carried away and truly appreciate your caring enough to read and think about what I’ve said. I, too, love that last line of “The Dead.”
As ever, Jim, to you and everyone here,
Robin
No need to be sorry. It's all wonderful.
Patti, your hair looks so YOU. You can fuss with coconut oil and mayonnaise (which I did once..) and it will always be YOU. Brushing with a fine bristle brush is helpful and healthful, but it will always be You. I like your hair, and it is so effective in performance! Skritch Cairo between her shoulder blades for me, and thank you for the book recommends…I’m getting my songs ready to process in LOGIC, and for that I’m checking in at a YouTube site called “Become a Bassist” to start laying down tracks with more finesse than I posess (rhymes!)
Thank you, Patti.
MLK's speech reminded me again.
Mahalia Jackson is also to be commended for urging additional words to tell them about the dream, while it is miraculous that he responded and improvised his speech.
TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM, MARTIN! TELL THEM ABOUT THE DREAM!
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2016/1/18/10785882/martin-luther-king-dream-mahalia-jackson
Wow sooo much in today’s post, thank you.
I have had nearly a life time crush on Carl Jung.
I believe one of his translations was done by Beatrice Hinkle 1912. She met Carl and I believe invited him to Greenwich Village to speak. There was a restaurant there then called Polly’s (Holliday) and that’s where all the cool people met. Can you just imagine being there amongst them all, wow!
Even though the post was full of so many goodies, the best part was Cairo. I actually held my breath when you turned around to bring her to say hello.
What lurks in the back of our mind and comes out rolling down our cheeks just when we least expect it. I hope you have a well deserved rest.
Jayne,I think Jung is a great thinker. I have read his autobiography three times. I found an article in Polly's (Holliday) where Jung visited. I wish you a peaceful and wonderful life.
In 1912 Hinkle and Jung met in person, when Jung came to Manhattan to give a lecture at Fordham University.
https://www.villagepreservation.org/2020/10/16/translation-and-transformation-carl-jung-beatrice-hinkle-and-greenwich-village-bohemia/
Thank you for the link Yoshi. What I would give for an afternoon of playing in the sand with Mr Jung beside his beloved lake Zurich.
I love your second to last sentence! I am involved in producing a program of talks on the subject of awakening awe ( https://bewisegokind.org/awaken-awe). The team was talking tonight about a definition of awe, and these words are a perfect description. Thank you!
Thank you Beth.
Nobody likes their own hair - but I like yours!
I remember the evening of Dr. King's murder so clearly. I was in my high school gymnasium where we were rehearsing a play when the word came. We all sat in stunned silence. MLK was not just an American figure but a global one as well. He bravely and eloquently offered hope. A couple of months later Robert Kennedy was gone. Malcolm X was 1965 but all those deaths seemed to flow together, the nightmare that choked the dream. Thank you for reminding us. Dr. King's words can still inspire hope. We can't give up.
It's wonderful to share in your passion for books. I couldn't agree more about Natasha Wimmer. Her work is a gift.
I love the bond you have with Cairo and I love that you ended by mentioning your great preoccupation with your hair. Those personal touches are what draws so many of us to this space. And, if I may say so, your hair looks fantastic.
Thank you for sharing those book recommendations Patti. Your site is a Le Guinian "carrier bag" of knowledge. I'm off the local library...xxx
https://lithub.com/lydia-davis-on-how-translation-opens-a-writers-mind/
Hi Patti. Your hair is beautiful!!! Thanks for celebrating women and Dr King. His speech always makes me cry. I just started reading Astragal. Great introduction. Ironically I broke my ankle this summer. Her description of the sensation of a broken ankle is spot on. Glad you are home safe. Happy to see Cairo. Love that little kitty She is so beautiful. Thanks for the recommendations. Rest up.
Your hair is perfection... ( Translation: "Your hair is perfection.) With Love.
I love you Patti. I’m so glad you had an amazing trip💗💕
Oh, wow! I love these book recommendation sessions! And a new “Astragal” with your introduction. Can’t wait! I’m off to buy books. Welcome home. Happy Blue moon soon. 🌝
Thanks so much for the book recommendations! Love that sweet Cairo.
the reading recommendations alone are good reason to be a subscriber to this substack- let's share that with those who we think could enjoy Patti's deep regard for books - the growth of a community of readers - can help lead us to a world with more empathy.
Alpha Sisters Publishing is a big-hearted micropress I've had the pleasure of working with, putting out English translations of lost/little-known Korean texts. Right now they're getting ready to republish the out-of-print memoir of Shaman Kim Keum-Hwa, probably the most famous Korean shaman of modern times. I've linked the Kickstarter below for anyone who might be interested!! http://kck.st/3QSHIBQ
Welcome home Patti. Thanks for checking in and providing us with the link to Martin Luther King's speech/sermon. Cairo is 21 years old!
Larissa Volokhonsky, sometimes along with her collaborator Richard Pevear, especially Chekhov, especially his short story Vanka.
Yes!
Vanka caused me to cry out “No!” but only in the Volokhonsky/Pevear translation, not others.
Hi, Patti!
Clarice Lispector's original text in Portuguese is out of this world. So intense, so full of soul. I read "Água Viva" for the first time when I was seventeen, a little after my first reading of "Une Saison en Enfer" when I was sixteen.
It's great for a Brazilian admirer of your majestic poetry to see your interest in Brazilian literature. If you need some tips, I can humbly write you something to read of our Brazilian words.
Best regards,
Marcus.
Thank you Patti 🌸
Dear Patti,
Thank you for your August post and links to women translators and MLK's speech.
I love your jacket with the orange back and your hair glows in the video like a halo.
I fuss too much about my hair too, in the Sydney humidity it sits like electrical wires. Any hair tips would be greatly appreciated.
One of the best translations by a woman is something I just finished: Alison L. Strayer's translation of Annie Ernaux's "A Girl's Story" - it is such a moving read.
Thank you so much for your videos.
Lots of love to you and Cairo,
Claire
Thank you for reminding us of Women in Translation month 💗 there’s been such a great amount of insightful and beautiful translations by women writers and scholars, some published some as yet unpublished. Celebrate them all.
Wonderful to be with you
Love peace and restorative energy to you and Cairo. Love your adventures in travel very grateful to have you share but it’s nice to see you home with Cairo. May we all share kindness to our fellow people
Amen.
Sending you so much love! And to Cairo, too. 🩷
Agree re: N. Wimmer. Thanks for acknowledging her skills.
So nice to see you back at home to recharge a bit.
I’m somewhat fragmented today as well. Full moon on Wednesday & I’m feeling it. I Have A Dream Still Resonates. Had a High School English Teacher Who Would Just Break into it when the class was adrift. It was always magnificent. Glad your home safe & sound. Hope to see you in Princeton in September. I’ll listen again later. Get some rest & hydrate.
And a super blue moon to boot!
Ahhh! The moon. That's why I am so drifty...
Patti I’m feeling this Super Moon quite a bit. There are other cosmic variables at play. Get some astro-acu. It does help!
Mahalia Jackson was my father's favourite singer. I grew up with her voice but I didn’t know this story. Thanks so much for sharing. Take good care.
Sorry, Jim.I have updated the deleted content. Appreciate your comments.
YW