I am so glad I live now: the wonderful local City Library - this city is neither very large nor very rich, on an international scale - stocks most of the books I want to read. Researching translation, I found both Umberto Eco and Lawrence Venuti on their shelves. I am most grateful.
There are many other things to be grateful for, this is the one for today. Found another book on translation which I have not read yet but which promises well, Edith Grossman, Why translation matters. Found it between the two others, it is also physically a beautiful object, made with care. Ah, care!
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Monday, 21 March 2011
Saying more about what is gone
Up on time this morning, still dark, exercises, Zen, breakfast with the news (Japan's misery, Libya's misery), load washing machine, remove and fold dry washing from line, tidy up kitchen, Skype phone call with a sister whose birthday it is today. Answer varied emails.
Finally, at last, to the dining room, taken over for the purpose of planning the novel.
The stickies I used on Friday to work on a plan for the novel have curled away from the large sheets of thick paper which are supposed to provide a panoramic view. These stickies had previously curled away from the back of the door in my study, I thought it was the door, but it is the stickies which are the problem. They are small and white. I wrote on them in four colours, one per main character.
Went to the local supermarket, some auxiliary shopping - milk, bread, fruit etc. - but in the end they don't stock Stickies, they're not sure what they are. Finished shopping, checked out the local Post Office which doubles up as a stationery store, yes they have some - not the usual ones, these may be more expensive. Bought 300, larger, light yellow.
Drive home, two full bags heaved onto the kitchen bench, everything put away, make cups of tea for two, enter the dining room again with my new stickies. The coaster from Amsterdam is waiting for my cup of tea. It is now 11:20 am.
An annoying stimulus has disappeared - something like a sound, an inner manifestation. I am in a quiet place and all is well, at last. I want to write. I can write.
Latest books: Chaim Potok, The Book of Lights (Heinemann, 1981) - not my favourite of his, that remains The Chosen, this one is partly autobiographical. As always a terrific tale-spinner, creates a world I find hard to emerge from, I am very susceptible- my preference is to read books such as these in one go, get them over with. Umberto Eco refers to such writing as 'para-literature'.
Most other people seem to enjoy them without becoming trapped. Missed the time slot for an important phone call. Upsetting, maybe for both of us.
Jose Saramago The Elephant's Journey (Harvill Secker, 2010) translated by the wonderful Margaret Jull Costa: enjoyable and whimsical, though at times a little formulaic. Maybe not so for someone who hasn't read his other books. One feels that Saramago is very old and a little child-like in his optimism. Is that what is wrong with this book - that there is no true evil in it? Saramago has written well about evil elsewhere - read his book Blindness, a masterpiece.
Yesterday raced through a slim volume entitled A Murder in Lemberg: Politics , religion, and violence in modern Jewish history, by historian Professor Michael Stanislawski of Columbia University. First of all, it is well written, a good pace, an enjoyable read. The murder takes place in 19th century Poland, the
brilliant Reform Rabbi is assassinated by an Orthodox Jew. (Documentation of evil in various forms). The brilliance of the Rabbi is not sufficiently substantiated for my liking, but the positive outcome of reading the book - from the point of view of the one I am writing myself - was learning about the ways in which certain practices changed between the Orthodox and the newer forms of Judaism. Also: with his description of contemporary Lemberg, Professor Stanislawski bears witness in a powerful way to the destruction and disappearance of Eastern European Jewry, a topic of which much more might be said.
Finally, I am about to finish a short book on the theory of translation: Umberto Eco's Mouse or Rat? Translation as Negotiation, (Phoenix, 2003) from his lectures at the University of Toronto in 1988. I also started Lawrence Venuti's The Translator's Invisibility, a History of Translation (2nd edn.,Routledge, 1995, 2002). I have to prepare a translator's statement of principle for the translation I have just finished, and this reading is supposed to give me the required insight and jargon.
Eco's book is engrossing: it would be satisfying for anyone who has lived in several languages. I started Venuti's book because I couldn't get hold of an article of his which encapsulates his theory. Maybe I'll try harder: the book is too much work for my purpose. There is a reference by Eco to another Venuti article which I'll follow up.
For my edification, am continuing to read No Time to Lose, by Pema Chodron (Shambhala, 2005). Slow work, like building a brick wall, or putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Every now and then, a sense of having achieved/understood something new. But mostly one has to carry on, a little doggedly.
Finally, at last, to the dining room, taken over for the purpose of planning the novel.
The stickies I used on Friday to work on a plan for the novel have curled away from the large sheets of thick paper which are supposed to provide a panoramic view. These stickies had previously curled away from the back of the door in my study, I thought it was the door, but it is the stickies which are the problem. They are small and white. I wrote on them in four colours, one per main character.
Went to the local supermarket, some auxiliary shopping - milk, bread, fruit etc. - but in the end they don't stock Stickies, they're not sure what they are. Finished shopping, checked out the local Post Office which doubles up as a stationery store, yes they have some - not the usual ones, these may be more expensive. Bought 300, larger, light yellow.
Drive home, two full bags heaved onto the kitchen bench, everything put away, make cups of tea for two, enter the dining room again with my new stickies. The coaster from Amsterdam is waiting for my cup of tea. It is now 11:20 am.
An annoying stimulus has disappeared - something like a sound, an inner manifestation. I am in a quiet place and all is well, at last. I want to write. I can write.
Latest books: Chaim Potok, The Book of Lights (Heinemann, 1981) - not my favourite of his, that remains The Chosen, this one is partly autobiographical. As always a terrific tale-spinner, creates a world I find hard to emerge from, I am very susceptible- my preference is to read books such as these in one go, get them over with. Umberto Eco refers to such writing as 'para-literature'.
Most other people seem to enjoy them without becoming trapped. Missed the time slot for an important phone call. Upsetting, maybe for both of us.
Jose Saramago The Elephant's Journey (Harvill Secker, 2010) translated by the wonderful Margaret Jull Costa: enjoyable and whimsical, though at times a little formulaic. Maybe not so for someone who hasn't read his other books. One feels that Saramago is very old and a little child-like in his optimism. Is that what is wrong with this book - that there is no true evil in it? Saramago has written well about evil elsewhere - read his book Blindness, a masterpiece.
Yesterday raced through a slim volume entitled A Murder in Lemberg: Politics , religion, and violence in modern Jewish history, by historian Professor Michael Stanislawski of Columbia University. First of all, it is well written, a good pace, an enjoyable read. The murder takes place in 19th century Poland, the
brilliant Reform Rabbi is assassinated by an Orthodox Jew. (Documentation of evil in various forms). The brilliance of the Rabbi is not sufficiently substantiated for my liking, but the positive outcome of reading the book - from the point of view of the one I am writing myself - was learning about the ways in which certain practices changed between the Orthodox and the newer forms of Judaism. Also: with his description of contemporary Lemberg, Professor Stanislawski bears witness in a powerful way to the destruction and disappearance of Eastern European Jewry, a topic of which much more might be said.
Finally, I am about to finish a short book on the theory of translation: Umberto Eco's Mouse or Rat? Translation as Negotiation, (Phoenix, 2003) from his lectures at the University of Toronto in 1988. I also started Lawrence Venuti's The Translator's Invisibility, a History of Translation (2nd edn.,Routledge, 1995, 2002). I have to prepare a translator's statement of principle for the translation I have just finished, and this reading is supposed to give me the required insight and jargon.
Eco's book is engrossing: it would be satisfying for anyone who has lived in several languages. I started Venuti's book because I couldn't get hold of an article of his which encapsulates his theory. Maybe I'll try harder: the book is too much work for my purpose. There is a reference by Eco to another Venuti article which I'll follow up.
For my edification, am continuing to read No Time to Lose, by Pema Chodron (Shambhala, 2005). Slow work, like building a brick wall, or putting a jigsaw puzzle together. Every now and then, a sense of having achieved/understood something new. But mostly one has to carry on, a little doggedly.
Monday, 7 March 2011
The Tao
So much has happened since January: Zen retreat - definitely no writing then - two issues of the Bulletin published, one visitor for ten days, another for one night, a book launch organised at Temple, two sermons written - there is something to show for the time spent, but I've not been writing here.
Am sporadically re-reading Per Pettersen's I curse the River of Time, third time round - I am sure that his book's message is clear to a literate Norwegian - as an outsider, I feel the need to research the hints that are there - the name of the ship, the films which impressed the main characters, the books they read. It is frustrating and satisfying at the same time - I'm spending a lot of time with it, contentedly. For some reason, the hopelessness of the main character, who drowns his gifts in alcohol, does not affect me. I am interested in how Pettersen manages to draw the reader into the book. It is a masterpiece.
Bought the Tao Te Ching in a swap of books at a 2nd hand bookstore; I'd lost the copy I'd bought in the 70s in Amsterdam, probably in that marvellous bookshop Au bout du monde...This not-so-new copy is ostensibly for P, who is discovering the Tao via his Chinese student, - they are discussing the Tao in English together, as an exercise in pronounciation, having finished Confucius' Analects during their first year. An interesting process.
I find this Tao Te Ching particularly beautiful, (translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, with lovely photographs, Vintage Books, Random House, 1972) though P reports that Jian Liang does not always agree with the translation. My friend Helen was interested, so searched out a copy for her on the Web and came to realise that it must have been a popular edition, because copies are available all over the place.
This edition includes the Chinese, written in calligraphy and I spent several peaceful hours one afternoon absorbed in working out what the ideograms meant...except that I should be working.
So in a guilty surge of energy, finished the translation I was working on and sent it off for feedback. End of Stage One, the longest part. Now I have to wait to hear back.
Am sporadically re-reading Per Pettersen's I curse the River of Time, third time round - I am sure that his book's message is clear to a literate Norwegian - as an outsider, I feel the need to research the hints that are there - the name of the ship, the films which impressed the main characters, the books they read. It is frustrating and satisfying at the same time - I'm spending a lot of time with it, contentedly. For some reason, the hopelessness of the main character, who drowns his gifts in alcohol, does not affect me. I am interested in how Pettersen manages to draw the reader into the book. It is a masterpiece.
Bought the Tao Te Ching in a swap of books at a 2nd hand bookstore; I'd lost the copy I'd bought in the 70s in Amsterdam, probably in that marvellous bookshop Au bout du monde...This not-so-new copy is ostensibly for P, who is discovering the Tao via his Chinese student, - they are discussing the Tao in English together, as an exercise in pronounciation, having finished Confucius' Analects during their first year. An interesting process.
I find this Tao Te Ching particularly beautiful, (translation by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, with lovely photographs, Vintage Books, Random House, 1972) though P reports that Jian Liang does not always agree with the translation. My friend Helen was interested, so searched out a copy for her on the Web and came to realise that it must have been a popular edition, because copies are available all over the place.
This edition includes the Chinese, written in calligraphy and I spent several peaceful hours one afternoon absorbed in working out what the ideograms meant...except that I should be working.
So in a guilty surge of energy, finished the translation I was working on and sent it off for feedback. End of Stage One, the longest part. Now I have to wait to hear back.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
An island in infinity
Heart-touching poem:
THE MOON RISING LA LUNA ASOMA
When the moon rises, Cuando sale la luna
the bells hang silent se pierden las campanas
and impenetrable footpaths y aparecen las sendas
appear. impenetrables.
When the moon rises, Cuando sale la luna,
the sea covers the land, el mar cubre la tierra
and the heart feels y el corazon se siente
like an island in infinity. isla en el infinito.
Lorca, translated by Stephen Spender & JL Gili.
There are two more stanzas.
THE MOON RISING LA LUNA ASOMA
When the moon rises, Cuando sale la luna
the bells hang silent se pierden las campanas
and impenetrable footpaths y aparecen las sendas
appear. impenetrables.
When the moon rises, Cuando sale la luna,
the sea covers the land, el mar cubre la tierra
and the heart feels y el corazon se siente
like an island in infinity. isla en el infinito.
Lorca, translated by Stephen Spender & JL Gili.
There are two more stanzas.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Blank day - but good
Was up at 6:30 am, now it is almost midnight - and have done no work and no reading.
On the other hand: visited the Dr, coffee with a friend, shopping and cooking dinner for 7, using new Asian cookery book, which as H.M.cN says "changed my life"! The many uses of a wok and the right sort of tools to use with it - from steaming to deep frying - very interesting and made this meal much easier than usual - all done in 2 hours max.
Nice evening. But nothing else.Worthwhile?
On the other hand: visited the Dr, coffee with a friend, shopping and cooking dinner for 7, using new Asian cookery book, which as H.M.cN says "changed my life"! The many uses of a wok and the right sort of tools to use with it - from steaming to deep frying - very interesting and made this meal much easier than usual - all done in 2 hours max.
Nice evening. But nothing else.Worthwhile?
Sunday, 9 January 2011
The UN: Babble Bubble
A bit of everything, - no time for reading. Trimmed the roses and watered the garden. It hasn't rained for four days. All my reading is effortful or depressing: Dore Gold on the United Nations: The Tower of Babble, How the United Nations has Fueled Global Chaos (Crown Forum, NY, 2004).
I daren't read it before I go to sleep, too upsetting. At first I thought/hoped he was biased (against everyone who is not pro-Israel), but the evidence he provides is consistent: the UN fails to protect the weak against the strong. I still have half the book to read, having read about Rwanda and Srebernica so far....
Another illusion gone.
I daren't read it before I go to sleep, too upsetting. At first I thought/hoped he was biased (against everyone who is not pro-Israel), but the evidence he provides is consistent: the UN fails to protect the weak against the strong. I still have half the book to read, having read about Rwanda and Srebernica so far....
Another illusion gone.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Exodus
Middle of the day and not enough done - but want to mention that I recently read Going West by Maurice Gee, (Penguin, first published in 1992) which would be better if he had had more discipline and cut out repetition.
Urgent writing to do about Exodus, chapters 10 - 13. If I can shall add something about that later.
I am now at the last three pages of the translation, second round...should finish it next week. Last year I was hoping at one point to finish the work in June! I didn't think then that I should go over it again - but am very glad that I have done so.
Urgent writing to do about Exodus, chapters 10 - 13. If I can shall add something about that later.
I am now at the last three pages of the translation, second round...should finish it next week. Last year I was hoping at one point to finish the work in June! I didn't think then that I should go over it again - but am very glad that I have done so.
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