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Image: Elana KundellMbira Experiment, 2009, Oil on Panel (Detail)
Correspondences In The Air: International Poetry The March Issue
We’re celebrating the publication of The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry, edited by Ilya Kaminsky and Susan Harris ofWords without Borders, by devoting the month to poetry. Reading poetry gives one a chance to overhear similarities, or what Anna Akhmatova once called “correspondences in the air”—that is, moments where authors of different geographical and historical circumstances, languages, and traditions seem to address each other in their works. In these correspondences we see the importance of dialogue, as poets return to their poetic origins in order to create something new. Listen in on Roberto Bolaño, Sergio Chejfec, Nyk de Vries, Charles Ducal, Alta Ifland, Jazra Khaleed, Luis García Montero, Yiannis Moundelas, Francesc Parcerisas, Mercedes Roffé, Tomaž Šalamun, Nikos Violaris, and Richard Wagner, and enjoy the conversations.
From "Tales of the Autumn in Gerona" by Roberto Bolaño Translated by Erica Mena A woman—I should say a stranger—that caresses you, jokes with you, is sweet with you and brings you to the edge of the abyss.more>>> From the Figure 6 Into Ships by Tomaž Šalamun Translated by Thomas Kane and Tomaž Šalamun You destroyed all letters. You burned the heavenly garden. more>>>
Largo di Vitoria by Tomaž Šalamun Translated by Michael Thomas Taren Out of milk, out of strong skin jumps the big brother. When the river flows, the berth sleeps. more>>>
Movements by Tomaž Šalamun Translated by Thomas Kane and Tomaž Šalamun You went to heaven, Sir, forgetting your legs. Should we bury them? more>>>
Roosters and Bones by Sergio Chejfec Translated by Elizabeth Polli If when night falls in the kitchen Someone leans over To look in the sink, he will see more>>>
Black Lips by Jazra Khaleed Translated by Peter Constantine Listen You who chew on my solitude more>>>
Then by Francesc Parcerisas Translated by Cyrus Cassells Then with her hands she’d crown her son’s head, more>>>
Shave by Francesc Parcerisas Translated by Cyrus Cassells Observe yourself in the mirror, unchanged yet strange, more>>> Call Me At Home, Flambé by Yiannis Moundelas Translated by Sarah McCann darling, when it comes to strawberries you’re like me more>>>
Day, A by Yiannis Moundelas Translated by Sarah McCann gulls woke me
Hermes in Retrogression by Yiannis Moundelas Translated by Peter Constantine With fingers—fingertips and edge of nail— he plots fires with tongues of snakes, more>>>
Let Us Talk by Charles Ducal Translated by Dustin Benner First, we will bury you in the sand, with your head free to speak more>>>
Reviewed by Adam Eaglin Alicia Borinsky’s book Frivolous Women and Other Sinners (Frivolas y Pecadoras) consistently surprises with its verve and stamina more>>>
He and I by Emmanuel Moses Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker Oberlin College Press, 2009
Reviewed by Fiona Sze-Lorrain Weaving like a riddle that begs for more questions, or a jigsaw puzzle that laments its missing piecesmore>>>
Recent Dispatches God's Bit of Wood by Geoff Wisner Though better known in his later years as a film director, Sembène Ousmane (1923-2007) staked an early claim as one of Africa’s finest novelists.
God’s Bits of Wood, first published in 1960 and translated from the French by Francis Price, is not only one of the best novels to have come out of Africa but one of the best political novels of the 20th century. more>>>
Roberto Bolaño, Bounty Hunter by David Varno Bolaño’s preliminary note to Monsieur Pain, a short novel was first published in 1999 and appeared last month from New Directions, alludes to the author’s early desperation and tenacity. He wrote the book in the early ’80s, and it was awarded a prize by the Toledo City Council in Spain. Bolaño claims he never saw the book in published form, and continued pursuing “awards scattered over the map of Spain: buffalo prizes I had to go hunting like a redskin whose life is on the line.” more>>>
A New Venture by Ana María Correa And Other Stories is a fledgling independent publisher of fiction in translation with a new, community-based approach. Editorial selection decisions will emerge from a consensus of readers, writers, and translators.
Stefan Tobler and Jamie Searle are developing two reading forums at LibraryThing. The Portuguese-language group is looking at titles by João Paulo Cuenca, Rodrigo Lacerda, Raduan Nassar, and Dulce María Cardoso. The Spanish-language group is considering the work of Guadalupe Nettel, Andrés Neuman, Carlos Gamerro, Norma Lazo, Victoria de Stefano, and Ricardo Waale. (Incidentally, Cuenca, Nettel, and Neuman are all members of the Bogotá 39.)more>>>
Roberto Bolaño, Bounty Hunter
