SAMPLE circumference summer 2020 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE original work title SAMPLE
translator name iii CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Contents
1 Letter from the Editor elina alter poetry poetry (continued) 4–12 Четыре Стихотворения из 3–13 Four Poems from 50–54 51–55 Housework russian chinese 家務 Воронежских Тетрадей The Voronezh Notebooks chung kwok keung may huang osip mandelstam john high and matvei yankelevich 58–60 The Ruin 59–61 The Ruin old english anonymous gnaomi siemens 14 (No Sapņu grāmatas) 15 (from a dream diary) latvian baiba bičole bitite vinklers 64 [Enterre-moi vite] 65 [Bury me quick] 66 [Tout gouvernail sera 67 [Each rudder will be french [Infrared Camera mon sabre d’aurore] my saber of dawn 18–6 ِمادون قرمز 19–17 21 20 Sealed Doors khal torabully nancy naomi carlson ابهام قفلها persian garous abdolmalekian ahmad nadalizadeh and idra novey 68 POÉSIE ÉLÉMENTAIRE 69 ELEMENTARY POETRY 70–84 DROIT DE REGARD 71–85 IDEA INSPECTION 22 የሀገሬ ባሎች 23 Husbands of My Dear Country SUR LES IDÉES amharic mihret kebede eric ellingsen, jorga 86 GUILLOTINÉES EN 87 GUILLOTINED french mesfin and uljana wolf TÊTE À TÊTE HEAD TO HEAD ghérasim luca austin carder 24 አቃጅ 25 The planner amharic mihret kebede uljana wolf 90–96 Ποίηση μες στην ποίηση 91–97 Poetry Within Poetry greek antonis fostieris george fragopoulos 26–32 Два вірші зі збірки 27–33 Two Poems from ukrainian Новий правопис 98 36 Sekund 99 36 Seconds A New Orthography slovenian serhiy zhadan john hennessy aleš šteger brian henry and ostap kin SAMPLE102–106 epílogo 103–107 epilogue 34 Mi abuelo Klaus Kinski 35 My Grandfather Klaus Kinski 108 Rio, 24 de dezembro de 1981 109 Rio, December 24, 1981 36 Tres lombrices en la pileta 37 Three Worms in the 110 Carta sem data com a 111 Undated letter with poem portuguese hacen en el fondo un Bottom of the Pool Make poema “Vacilo da vocação” “Vacillation of Vocation” cuadro abstracto an Abstract Painting ana cristina cesar elisa wouk almino 38 Notas para un fado 39 Notes for a spanish Fado silvina lópez medin jasmine v. bailey 112 71 113 71 spanish magdalena chocano jacqui cornetta 42 MENT ASKÓ LAKR AKKR 43 KIDS INHI GHSC HOOL 44 RÓMA NTÍS KUST ALDA 45 THEB ELLE STEP OQUE icelandic kári tulinius larissa kyzer CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Contents (continued) prose 114–121 Herder and the Possibility of Translation william eck 122–124 Dessicated Mermaids (from Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country) cristina rivera garza, translated by sarah booker art 2, 125 Spilled Milk 41, 46 Hemline 40, 47 Tiptoeing 48, 56 Disappeared 57, 89 Like A Glove 62, 88 The Thinker henni alftan SAMPLE circumference summer 2020 circumference issue 8, summer 2020
m a s t h e a d
editor advisory editors Elina Alter Michael Barron Elizabeth Clark Wessel founding editors Daniel Lefferts Stefania Heim Sam Ross Jennifer Kronovet readers art director Elina Alter Justin Moore Alex Braslavsky Maria Eliades Tjaša Ferme advisory board Aubrey Jones Susan Bernofsky Iverson Long Jennifer Grotz Sarah Milner-Barry Mark Krotov Justin Moore Brett Fletcher Lauer Lida Nosrati Idra Novey Kaija Straumanis Eliot Weinberger Kristin Svava Jeffrey Yang Jay Zhang SAMPLE
Circumference is a journal of poetry in translation and international culture that is published two times a year. Information on how to purchase issues or submit materials can be found on our website circumferencemag.com. For all other inquiries such as publicity and advertising, email [email protected]
Support for Circumference has been generously provided by public funds from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Влез бесенок в мокрой шерстке — Up the devil clambers, his wool coat soaked— Ну, куда ему, куды? — Where’s he going, where to now? В подкопытные наперстки, Into hoof-imprinted thimbles, В торопливые следы; Into hasty, rushing tracks: По копейкам воздух версткий On his way to fleece the farmlands, Обирает с слободы. Cent by cent, of typeset air.
Брызжет в зеркальцах дорога — The road spatters out tiny mirrors. ИЗ
Утомленные следы Fatigued, the rutted tracks ВОРОНЕЖСКИХ ТЕТРАДЕЙ Постоят еще немного Will hold out a little longer Без покрова, без слюды... Without cover, without mica… Колесо брюзжит отлого — Wheels grousing in the slope— Улеглось — и полбеды! Stuck. Only half the trouble!
Скучно мне: мое прямое I’m bored: My straight-and-narrow from the voronezh notebooks Дело тараторит вкось — Work is chattering off course— По нему прошлось другое, Another trampled over it, Надсмеялось, сбило ось. Snickered, kicked the axle out. [8–12 января 1937] SAMPLE[January 12–18, 1937]
10 OСИП MАНДЕЛЬШТАМ (osip mandelstam) tr: john high & matvei yankelevich 11 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
የሀገሬ ባሎች Husbands of My Dear Country
እስኪ ሀገሬ …..ልግጠምልሽ Let me have a polite conversation with my country የኔ መግጠም….. ከጠቀመሽ፤ Let me write a poem to benefit my country እንደ ባለቅኔ …. ባልገጥምልሽ እንኳን even if I’m not able to write a poem for my country like the wise poets write እንደ’ክት ባሎችሽ …. ባልሆንልሽ እንኳን even if I’m not the legal husband of my country or a leader ያልራሰውን መሬት…… በላቤ እንዳለማ let me still water the dry land with planted sweat ባ’ጥር እየሾለኩ….. ልሁንሽ ውሽማ፤ let me slip in by the fence as a lover እንጂ በርሽማ የላይ የላዩማ By the front by the top by the upper upper door ላይገጥምሽ ተዘግቶ they closed the gate open by the gate never fits ላይሆንሽ ተጣብቶ……ማንን አስገብቶ? it never fitted you, probably it never properly ቢሆንም ቢሆንም ….. ላግባሽ ባልልሽም fit the bowl እስኪ ሀገሬ ልግጠምልሽ የኔ መግጠም ከጠቀመሽ ፤ either way either way… ባሎች የሀገሬ መች ይቀራል…. መግጠሜማ ሰባስቤ ….የቃል ማማ I don’t want to ask you to marry… Instead let me write you a poem የህዝብ ግጥም…. የህዝብ ዜማ፤ Let me fit a poem… to benefit my country ግና እኔ ደርሼ …..ቶሎ እስክገጥምልሽ My writing of poetry will never stop… my writing of poetry will never cease husbands of my dear country husbands ሀረግ ጠማጥሜ ….ቤት እስክመታልሽ collecting the hill of words ቀለበት አጥልቄ …. የሁሉ እስካደርግሽ ሰምሽ እዜህ ማዶ….ወርቅሽ እዚያ ማዶ The poetry of the people… is the melody of the people ህብረ-ቃልሽ ሁሉ…. ከባዕድ ተሰዶ until I grow vines I will… fit you with my poetry የድስትሽ ክዳኑ…. ሳይገጥም ተንከርፍፎ until I twist lines here I will… build a rhyming house here for you በኔ እገጥም ……በኔ እገጥም…. ገላሽ ብርድ አትርፎ ወጥሽ እኮ አለቀ ….. ተጨልፎ ተጨልፎ :: Because the lid doesn’t fit and the leaders don’t fit and they always leave the door open SAMPLEand they always leave the lid of the pot open so people can scoop things out and scoop things out and scoop things out…
22 mihret kebede tr: eric ellingsen, jorga mesfin & uljana wolf 23 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
አቃጅ The planner
ቢሆን ባይሆን ብሎ …..ማቀድ ለምንድነው? Why do we even make plans? ሰው መሆን በራሱ …..ያቃጁ እቅድ ነው Being human is like being the plan የታቀደ ደግሞ…. ከማቀድ ውጭ ነው of another planner/planet, አቀጁ ካለበት…. እቅዱን እስኪያጸድቅ so that in some way you are always አልያም ተጸጽቶ ….. ዶሴውን እስኪቀድ a plant in some-one else’s plan እንደ ጅረት ውሀ ዝ….ም ብሎ መፍሰስ ነው አፈሳሰስ ደግሞ….. ፍቺው ለየቅል ነው and so until the planner decides to አንድም ቋጥኝ መዝለል….. መ ፈ ነ ጣ ጠ ር ነው change the plan አልያም ጎዳና ላይ ….. ድንጋይ ስር መቅረት ነው :: or unless the planner decides to dismiss the plan
you are beautifully sitting there, plain plan man. አቃጅ
Like the flow of the river, determined the planner by the shape of the land in any situation. But how to flow is a very different question.
You can either carefully step on the rocks or you can simply decide to flow under the rocks and be forgotten forever.
Two rocks, still out there – SAMPLEto shape your flow and course.
24 mihret kebede tr: uljana wolf 25 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Mi abuelo Klaus Kinski My Grandfather Klaus Kinski
foto: sonrisas penden de un hilo picture: smiles hang from a thread se corta en Klaus, gigante de cabeza inclinada that ends with Klaus, his huge head half-tilted sin anteojos elige ver mal without glasses he has chosen to see poorly borrado, una mancha oscura en el brazo izquierdo erased, a dark stain on his left arm como un insecto muerto o no sé like a dead bug or I’m not sure what no se ve bien it’s hard to see
no flota una mariposa entre los dedos de Klaus no butterfly floats between Klaus’s fingers marchan patas en punta, aguijones marching on tiptoe, stingers ready
ya de niño even as a child mi abuelo klaus kinski ocultaba manzanas en armarios, escribía: he hid apples in closets, wrote: comer poco para no crecer eating little so as not to grow
y crecía igual, como todos and grew anyway, as we all do
es verano en la foto it’s summer in the picture my grandfather klaus kinski klaus my grandfather una mano intenta tapar el brazo herido one hand tries to cover the hurt arm la otra a punto de secar, suspensa the other about to blot a glittering gota que brilla en la frente drop suspended from his forehead como una lágrima corrida de lugarSAMPLElike a tear that’s gone off script.
34 silvina lópez medin tr: jasmine v. bailey 35 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Tres lombrices en la pileta hacen Three Worms in the Bottom of the en el fondo un cuadro abstracto Pool Make an Abstract Painting
Esa vez que intenté romper That time I tried to break el domingo en dos Sunday in two
y en la mitad and in the middle tres lombrices en la pileta hacen en el fondo un cuadro abstracto del peor temporal of the worst gale bajo la flecha que parte la noche, agita beneath the arrow that parts the night, its creatures sus criaturas, trembling, quise pisar la tormenta, I tried to walk over the storm, los pies desnudos en el pasto feet naked in grass el cuerpo a la espera de agua ajena body given to the wait for distant water
hasta recordar until I remembered lo que sale a flote: what invariably floats:
lombrices earthworms que tras el diluvio los pájaros that, once the storm has passed, birds bajan a devorar, will descend to devour, levanté un pie lifting a foot volví a los saltitos I hopped back hacia la zona de confort to safety bajo las tejas beneath the tiles three worms in the bottom of the pool make an abstract painting three worms in the bottom
llovía, llovía en serio it rained, rained like it meant it la lluvia no era fílmico not like the rain that falls in films anuncio de otra cosa. SAMPLEto signify something else.
36 silvina lópez medin tr: jasmine v. bailey 37 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Notas para un fado Notes for a Fado
intervalo: un hombre viejo, viejo interval: an old, old man aferrado a un papel gripping a paper repasa su letra rereads the lyrics la punta del zapato the tip of his shoe se acerca y se aleja del piso inching toward and away from the floor marca el ritmo, ya no marca he’s keeping time, or no longer marks insinúa, en parte ha perdido but suggests, he has partly lost el control del cuerpo, lo que queda control of his body, what’s left entre el piso y su pie between the floor and his foot— ¿es ese el espacio entre las cosas is that the space between things que Cage pedía no olvidar? that Cage wanted us to remember? notas para un fado el hombre viejo avanza the old man comes forward lento en su estar slow in his being un poco desprendido del entorno a little detached from the world around him se aferra al micrófono, sonríe he takes the microphone, smiles notes for a fado notes hasta que encuentra until he finds el compás del canto the music’s compass a veces se le va una frase o la voz, from time to time he misplaces a line or his voice, nosotros con pies firmes sobre el suelo firme de la taberna we whose feet are firm on the tavern’s firm floor en cada silencio le soplamos la letra, whisper the words to him at each silence, todavía creemos en la necesidadSAMPLE de completar. convinced that everything must be whole.
38 silvina lópez medin tr: jasmine v. bailey 39 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Housework 家務 / disappeared SAMPLE
Contextual Note:
“Housework” tracks its speaker from childhood to fatherhood, as he watches his relationship with chickens change—and along with it, his understanding of love and loss. The poem was composed in 2004, a time when the h5n1 influenza was resurfacing in Hong Kong. The first outbreak of the virus in humans occurred in Hong Kong in 1997; in December of that year, the government ordered the slaughter of 1.3 million chickens to control the spread of the virus.
48 henni alftan may huang 49 (黃鴻霙) CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Housework 家務 Oh oh-ing, I have never understood your language 喔喔的我從沒有聽懂你的語言 I picked up a body with an emptied belly 我提起一個掏空了腹腔的身體
Was that love? From the dark depths of the nest I took an egg 那是愛嗎？我在黝暗的禾桿窩裏拾起一枚蛋 Still warm. Turning around, I saw you stick your head out from firewood, 仍然溫暖，回頭便見你在柴木堆裏探出頭來 Oh oh-ing, as if you wanted to tell me something you could never explain 喔喔的，像要對我説一些怎也説不清楚的話
Was that an afternoon of fine rain? I was doing almost never-ending chores 那是一個下著細雨的下午嗎？我做著好像永遠做不完的家課 When I saw you rake the soil, while a flock of chicks under your wings 抬頭便見你在園裏翻耙泥土，蓬起的翅膀下是三五小雞雛 Looked around nervously, leapt, fought over something in your mouth 怯怯地探頭，忽然急步躥出，爭相啄食你嘴裏的甚麼 I watched you nod in the rain, gaze at glistening beads shaken off by small wings 我看著你頻頻點頭，在微雨裏，凝望小小翅膀抖掉閃亮的水珠
Was that love? I watched chicks slowly change their color 那是愛嗎？我看著雞雛慢慢變掉了顏色 家務 Between rainy and sunny days, I understood more about shifts in tense and tone 下雨和晴天之間，我學懂更多時態和語氣的變換 housework Saw a weary mother suddenly grow irritated, brandish the kitchen knife at me 看見勞累的母親突然動氣，向我掄起砧板上的菜刀 Saw piping hot spam and egg noodles on the table for me to eat 看見桌上擺了一碗熱氣騰騰的餐蛋公仔麵 So I could face the afternoon’s tedious high school entrance exams 待我吃了好去應付午後悶長的升中試
Oh oh-ing, were you looking for your eggs? Was I looking for mine? 喔喔的你在尋找你的蛋嗎？我在找我的嗎？ How to fill the empty grids? I looked out the window 空空的方格待要填上甚麼呢？我望向窗外 At light wind and fine rain and saw you raking the wet mud, a deep 斜風細雨又見你翻耙濕潤的泥土，深深的 And almost never-ending cavity, hiding your hopes 一個彷彿永無止境的窟窿，藏下你的希望我的 And my hopes? I saw piping hot eggs descend from the sky 希望麼？我看見漫天降下熱騰騰的蛋 I felt a lump in my throat, and could not write a single word 我的喉管哽著，筆下一個字也寫不出來
Was that love? On a rainy winter’s day 那是愛嗎？一個下著冷雨的冬天SAMPLE I watched you raise your throat, the feathers under your chin not yet fallen 我看見你挺高了喉管，頷下的羽毛還未飄落 And saw you pour bright red blood into a milk-white porcelain bowl 便見你把鮮紅的血瘋狂注入奶白的瓷碗 With no time to cry oh-oh, you already lay by the hot water basin 來不及發出喔喔的聲音，你已躺在沸水盆邊 Your stomach emptied, staring at your own scattered organs 掏空了腹腔，瞪看自己一一鋪陳在地的內臟 Then in the vast steam, you rose from a porcelain pot 然後在茫茫蒸氣中，你從一個白瓷盅裏升起 Blurring the hand that lifted the lid, blurring the ever-increasing wrinkles 模糊了揭起蓋子的手，模糊了不斷增添的皺紋
50 (chung kwok keung) tr: may huang 51 鍾國強 (黃鴻霙) CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
It rains and keeps raining I am still finishing never-ending housework 而雨下了多時還在下我還在做我做不完的家務 Between rain and sun, I learn simpler ways to solve complicated problems 下雨和晴天之間，我學懂更多簡單的方法解決複雜的問題 When you are gloomy for no reason, I learn to watch quietly from the side 你有無端抑鬱的時刻，我學懂在旁靜靜地看 Quietly clean the nursing bottle, change diapers, shake a small jingle 靜靜地洗瓶開奶，更換尿布，小小的搖鈴靜靜地搖 When you are violent for no reason, I learn to swallow my words 你有無端暴烈的時刻，我學懂吞吐言辭 Clean up broken shards, squeeze you tightly from behind at crucial moments 收拾破碎，學懂在關鍵時刻，緊緊的從後緊緊抱著你 Like a pair of silent heavy wings in a sky swirling with feathers 彷彿一對沉默厚重的翅膀，在漫天毛羽紛飛中 Without blood, without struggle, without anyone losing their voice 無有流血，無有掙扎，無有誰失聲委地
Is that love? I bought a nine-inch wide steaming pot 那是愛嗎？我買了一個九吋寬燉盅 Washed it inside out, then went to the store to buy a hen 內外洗淨，然後到市場買一隻母雞 Outside the bamboo cage, I saw with my eye that peculiar gaze 隔著竹籠，我一眼便看到那異樣的眼神 No tears, only that familiar, faint 沒有淚滴，只有那熟悉的，微微的 家務 Oh-oh. Then silence. I saw blood 喔喔的聲音。 然後寂滅。 我看見血水 housework Flow from a ditch. I saw a belly 從溝渠流出 我看見肚腹 。 Emptied out. Gaping, like a mouth 全掏空了 深深的，像一個口 。 That cannot say anything. I waved my hand 甚麼話也說不出來 我揮一揮手 。 And refused the shiny organs the shopkeeper held out 斷然拒絕店主手上閃亮的內臟
The rain keeps falling the steam keeps rising I pick up the body with the 雨還在下水氣還在蒸騰我提起掏空腹腔的身體 emptied belly 喔喔的我好像聽到窗外傳來喔喔的聲音 Oh-oh, I almost hear an oh-oh from outside the window 我學懂水的份量蔥的性情火候的大小 I learn the water’s volume the onion’s temperament the cooking flame’s size 端上飯桌的蒸氣準確盤旋在晴雨之間 The steam we bring onto the dining table spirals exactly between rain and shine 當黃油油的表層倒影臉上凝結的空氣 When the oily yellow surface reflects the condensation on my face 孩子又打噴嚏了是誰忘了添衣？ A kid sneezes again who forgot to layer up? 母親話來簡潔我聽到話筒那邊老房子的寂寞SAMPLE Mother’s words are concise I hear in the microphone that old house’s loneliness 春節回來麼元宵回來麼那麼中秋呢？ Will you be back for the New Year for the Lantern Festival and what about 井水清洌風爐迸裂柴木還是去年的麼？ Mid-Autumn? 日子瘦得乾癟許是到了屠宰歡慶的時光 The well water is clear the tea stove cracked and is the firewood still last year’s? The days are shriveled thin perhaps it is time to celebrate slaughter
52 (chung kwok keung) tr: may huang 53 鍾國強 (黃鴻霙) CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Is that love? I see a thin fluid flow from your beak like tears 那是愛嗎？我看到你喙裏流著稀液如淚滴 Is that the flu I see a whole city of people with long faces 那是流感麼我看見滿城的人拉長了面容 Between rainy and sunny days, I learn to wear masks and hazmat suits 下雨和晴天之間，我學懂穿戴面罩和塑料保護衣 Deeply raking the mud, doing that never-ending work 深深的翻耙泥土做那永遠做不完的工作 Oh-oh, I hear again that voice that voice stopping and going 喔喔的我又聽到那聲音那聲音若斷若續 Mouths sealed in every stuffed black plastic bag 在一個一個飽滿的黑色塑料袋內密封了口 Is that love, for the children we removed you from the cookbook 那是愛嗎為了孩子我們把你驅除出菜譜 Is that love, for our own sake we piled up your bodies 那是愛嗎，為了我們我們把你的軀體一一堆疊 Like houses crowded together in the morning at night in a shut-up city 像擁擠的房子在清晨在黑夜在關緊了的城市 I hear that voice that voice is nearby is at my feet 我聽到那聲音那聲音就在不遠就在腳下 Without understanding it that language is buried like the days 還未聽懂那語言便像日子般沉埋下去
[2004 2 10 ] [2/10/2004] 年 月 日 家務 housework SAMPLE
54 (chung kwok keung) tr: may huang 55 鍾國強 (黃鴻霙) CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE like a glove disappeared SAMPLE
56 henni alftan henni alftan 57 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
DROIT DE REGARD SUR LES IDÉES IDEA INSPECTION
Dans une des régions In the upper les plus raréfiées de l’esprit reaches of the mind où je campais au pied de la lettre where I camped at the foot of the letter à une altitude de nul pied at an altitude of zero feet plane un petit nombre a small number of very strange d’idées très particulières ideas are floating qu’il eût été dommage de ne pas saisir it would’ve been a shame au vol de mes distractions if I had missed them in my distracted flight
Je faillis ne pas les apercevoir droit de regard sur les idées tant elles étaient creuses au milieu I almost didn’t even notice them d’oublis et de vertiges sans nom they were so hollowed out by oblivion and unknown vertigo L’une entre elles attira notamment mon attention One in particular idea inspection non pas pour la beauté de sa démarche drew my attention d’une indistinction certaine not with the beauty of its walk mais à cause de ses yeux which is pretty ordinary longs et minces but with its long que j’ai pris pour des antennes thin eyes de sauterelle that I mistook for grasshopper antennae Je me penchais, alors, et reconnus une de ces idées à capuchon vert I leaned closer and recognized qui prennent les hommes au dépourvu one of those ideas with green hoods Elles ne sont pas SAMPLEthat catch men off guard égarantes, au contraire They aren’t mais le traitement qu’elles font subir lost, quite the contrary aux penseurs est si étrange but what they do to qu’il faut décrire en détail thinkers is so strange le dispositif destiné à les captiver that I have to describe in detail the device necessary to lure them in
70 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 71 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
La paupière du milieu, car The middle eyelid, since elle en a plusieurs it has a few est incliné en arrière, à la base is sliding backward, toward the spine en sorte qu’elle se trouve tout contre and eventually finds itself right up against la paupière supérieure the upper eyelid et lui est partiellement accolée and is partially connected to it Deux paupières latérales Two lateral eyelids sont réunies sur la moitié join for half de leur longueur of their length
de manière à former comme shaped like a fork droit de regard sur les idées une fourchette dressée en l’air standing upright C’étaient les extrémités effilées I mistook these de celle-ci slender extremities que je pris pour les antennes for the antennae d’une sauterelle of a grasshopper idea inspection
La prunelle encapuchonnée The hooded pupil s’appuie sur elles weighs them down
Ainsi tout l’œil d’idée se présente So the idea’s entire eye amounts dans la position inverse du regard to a negative image of looking Il semble également en veilleuse And it seems shut for good car il ne s’ouvre que rarement since it only opens rarely L’acte de regarder s’accomplit The act of looking happens à l’intérieur on the inside de manière fugitive et constanteSAMPLEsneakily and constantly et lorsqu’il s’accomplit and once it’s done ne fait que s’avancer it has to pass entre les fourchettes through the forks
On ne s’attendait certes pas You certainly wouldn’t expect it mais c’est pourtant à cet endroit but nonetheless at this spot que s’est posé naturellement my gaze quite naturally mon regard came to rest
72 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 73 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
car il n’y a pas d’autres voies since there’s no other pour y pénétrer way in L’irritabilité en fut extrême The irritability was extreme
Même le souffle d’une pensée Even the breath of a thought ou un minuscule battement de cœur or the slightest beat of a heart le font se retirer à l’intérieur would cause it to snap back comme mû par un ressort as if stuck to a spring entraînant le regard du penseur dragging the thinker’s gaze
et obturant encore plus and sealing all the more droit de regard sur les idées la lourde trappe mentale the heavy mental trapdoor
A peine aspiré au fond de l’œil Just when I was sucked into the depths of the eye idea inspection mon regard entreprit de se frayer my gaze began to open up un chemin vers le haut a path toward the top
Il fait plus clair au sommet It’s brighter at the summit là où les extrémités des paupières there where the edge of the eyelids sont repliées sur elles-mêmes are folded in upon themselves
C’est sans doute la raison That’s no doubt pour laquelle SAMPLEthe reason j’ai pu voir mon regard ramper I could see my gaze crawling dans toutes les directions in every direction à la fois at once
le seul moyen d’y parvenir since the only way to get there étant de n’y plus penser is to stop thinking about it (Il n’y avait pas beaucoup d’espace (There’s not much room à l’intérieur de l’idée) on the inside of an idea)
74 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 75 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Arrivé en haut Having reached the summit il se frotte nécessairement it has to rub itself contre soi-même against itself et reste le plus attaché and stays bound up à sa manière de voir with its way of seeing qui n’est plus tout à fait la même which is no longer quite the same
Toute cette étrange manœuvre All of this strange maneuver droit de regard sur les idées qui recommence aussitôt which begins right away dans l’autre œil in the other eye ne donne lieu apparemment apparently does not result à aucun échange de vues in a change of the mind idea inspection
Il se peut cependant It’s nonetheless possible que nos regards trouvent that our gazes find au double fond de l’œil at the double depths of the eye quelque peu a little bit d’une sécrétion visionnaire of visionary secretion
Espérons que cette compensationSAMPLELet’s hope they’d at least au moins be granted leur soit accordée this compensation
Eux qui normalement They who normally se laissent fasciner let themselves be taken in tout de suite right away étaient comme aveuglés were as if blinded par des larmes secrètes by secret tears
76 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 77 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
et des gémissements saccadés and stuttered groans sortaient de leurs orbites sounding from their sockets
You’ll understand On comprendra that this is an extreme que ce soit là un exemple case of losing sight extrême, à perte de vue droit de regard sur les idées
During a long gaze Quand au long regard you can hardly ever il n’arrive presque jamais enter the eye à pénétrer dans l’œil of an idea, there’s nothing idea inspection de l’idée, il n’y a d’ailleurs rien you can do to pour l’y attirer force it
Only shortsighted seers Seuls les voyeurs à courte vue despite rather rough shocks en dépit des chocs plutôt rudes at first à l’entrée are greeted with gentler treatment subissent un traitement plus doux and allowed to leave et on les laisse se retirer after half an hour au bout d’une demi-heureSAMPLEwhich is better ce qui vaut mieux than being retained for life que d’être retenu à vie
78 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 79 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
On trouve pour certains In some cases un exemple de long emprisonnement there are extended periods of captivity
C’est l’acte de cesser de regarder It’s the act of stopping looking qui déclenche that unleashes le mécanisme de libération the freedom mechanism mais les voyous but the hoodlums
ne procèdent pas toujours don’t always proceed droit de regard sur les idées progressivement progressively et, s’il se produit and, if there’s le moindre contretemps the slightest setback l’œil de l’idée ne s’ouvrira plus the eye of the idea will never open again idea inspection
L’idée que j’ai vue était ainsi The idea I saw was like this
Son œil était privé de lumière Its eye was deprived of light mais il dégageait une lueur masquée but it gave off a masked glimmer qui attirait SAMPLEthat drew me in A moins que les glandes idéatives Unless ideational glands ne sécrètent quelque suc invisible secrete some invisible sap qu’elles peuvent opposer that allows them to block de temps en temps from time to time les regards entrent incoming gazes sans rencontrer d’obstacle without encountering an obstacle
80 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 81 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Ils ont pour ce faire To do this they have to à descendre le long du clignotement climb down a blink par les deux cercles de cils raides by the two rungs of stiff eyelashes qui poussent inclinés vers le bas jutting out and pointing down
Les regards peuvent passer Gazes could pass through en pressant contre pressing against les extrémités plus flexibles the softest edges
mail il leur est impossible but it’s impossible for them droit de regard sur les idées de revenir en arrière to go back car ces extrémités because these edges ne sont inclinées que d’un côté only point in one direction idea inspection Ils se trouvent alors Then they find themselves dans une petite chambre in a little room au milieu de la vision même in the middle of vision itself et tandis que pris de panique and gripped by panic ils font des efforts pour sortir they attempt to leave ils se couvrent d’images cloaked in images
C’est alors que se révèle This is the way the captivating side le côté fascinant de la trappe of the trapdoor reveals itself car aussitôt SAMPLEsince as soon qu’une quantité d’images as a number of images suffisantes pour émerveiller l’œil sufficient to dazzle the eye surgit, les zones de cils arises, the eyelash area se détendent, se contractent relaxes, contracts et finalement se recroquevillent : and finally curls up: plus rien dans ces conditions then under these conditions n’empêche les penseurs nothing stops de prendre leur liberté thinkers from wriggling free
82 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 83 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Il peut se passer Two or three days deux ou trois jours can go by avant qu’ils soient relâchés before they’re released car déclencher les images because triggering images par petits à-coups with turbulence ne suffit pas isn’t enough pour ouvrir l’œil (la trappe) to open the eye (the trapdoor) et la distribution de non-images and the distribution of non-images doit se faire must be carried out
perpétuellement perpetually droit de regard sur les idées idea inspection SAMPLE
84 ghérasim luca tr: austin carder 85 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Selected Letters from Ana Cristina Cesar selected letters from ana cristina cesar
The beloved Brazilian poet Ana Cristina Cesar (1952–1983) lived in England be- SAMPLEtween 1979 and 1981. During this time, she befriended the Brazilian artist Bia Wouk (my mother), who lived in Paris. The two women exchanged many letters during this time, and Ana C. (as she is known) sent Bia early drafts of a book of prose poetry that she was working on, called Kid Gloves. Like much of her oth- er writing, Kid Gloves reads like an intimate conversation or diary. In one let- ter to Bia, Ana C. confides that the book “is filled with clin d’œil, private jokes and a particular desire” and gives “the impression of a highly edited notebook (which is actually true, but I don’t say for the sake of fiction).” Along with this letter, she sent an early (slightly different) draft of the book’s “Epilogue,” which describes the narrator opening a suitcase packed with postcards from around the world. The scene recalls Ana C.’s own life of travel and passionate correspon- dence with friends.
100 elisa wouk almino 101 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
epílogo epilogue
Num minuto vou passar para vocês vários cartões-postais belos e brilhantes. I am going to pass around in a minute some lovely, glossy-blue picture postcards. This is the leather suitcase that contains the famous collection. Notice my hands, empty. My pockets are also empty. My hat is also empty. Look. My sleeves. I turn my back, I spin completely around. As all can see, there is no trick, no hidden trapdoor, nor any deceiving light games. The suitcase rests on this chair here.
I open the suitcase with this master key in ceremonies like this, if you allow me epílogo such a game. epilogue The first thing we find in the suitcase, on top of everything, is—guess—a pair of gloves. Here they are. Kid gloves. A fine thing. I put on the gloves—left hand… right hand… perfect… cut. That reminds me… A young artist lost in the elegant Berlin of the Belle Époque, alone, looking in vain for pleasure. A clamorous group of skaters pass by, and a woman in white drops her glove, a glove with six padded buttons, white, long, perfumed. The young man runs, picks up the glove, but reluctant as to whether he should SAMPLEaccept the challenge or not. In the end he decides to ignore it, keeps the glove in his pocket and goes back walking to his hotel through poorly illuminated streets. But I’m digressing from my purpose tonight. Later, if there is time, I will conclude this fantastic story, in which even a Neptune carriage, a giant bat that smiles and always runs away, and an ocean of foliage make a cameo. Who knows if this is not exactly that glove? However, we don’t have just one here, but the pair; it’s very delicate and contrasts with this black suit. Will the leather valise contain various toiletries? No, my friends. As all can see, by gently rotating the chair on which it rests, the valise only
102 ana cristina cesar tr: elisa wouk almino 103 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
contains paper… cards… dozens, maybe hundreds of postcards. Strange valise! And now, attention. epílogo epilogue SAMPLE
104 ana cristina cesar tr: elisa wouk almino 105 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
71 71
sé que no llegará el poema I know the poem won’t come que prometes en tus cartas the one promised in your letters
no muy lejos not far off se oye el ruido you can hear the sound de las almas que se separan de los cuerpos of souls separating themselves from bodies
caen ministros Ministers fall al pantano into the bog
vendrán mensajes messages will arrive
a centenares by the hundreds [de esquirlas ] y aun un retrato vendrá muy añorado even a long-desired portrait will come
tú vacilas ante cada palabra you hesitate at every word
[from splinters ] dices ¡cámara! ¡acción! you say camera! action! nada acontece nothing happens
tu navecilla de papel con cuatro letras your little paper boat with its four letters se estrella en la costa de Cornwall crashes into the coast of Cornwall el faro está apagado para siempre the lighthouse goes out forever
sueño asomada al balcón con aquel viejo verso: leaning out the balcony I dream of that old verse: ¡presos políticos, libertad! ¡amnistía general! freedom to political prisoners! amnesty for all! a esta hora de la tarde el repartoSAMPLE de la realidad at this hour in the afternoon reality’s distribution ya ha comenzado has already begun y te toca ese estribillo impronunciable and it’s your go at that unpronounceable refrain
apenas un poema deleto a poem nearly expunged
pero ya no quiero nada but I don’t want anything now
ya no prometas, no jures, don’t promise anything else, don’t swear, escucha no más cómo lo que no está escrito just listen to the way what is not written llena el tiempo, teme fills time, fear it
112 magdalena chocano tr: jacqui cornetta 113 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Who would take on an arduous lifelong project while expressing skepticism, even Herder and the Possibility at the outset, about the possibility of its success? The often overlooked 18th‑cen- of Translation tury German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder is noteworthy—and par- adoxical—for the deep significance he attributed to the act of translation, and for his skepticism concerning the possibility of successful translation. His Volkslieder collected poetry and folksongs from Germany and other nations, placing his own translations of Spanish ballads and Shakespeare’s poems alongside tradi- tional German pieces. Unlike most his contemporaries, other philosopher of the German Enlightenment, Herder saw the literature of a culture as encapsulating a worldview, and thus held it to be worthy of serious philosophical consideration. Yet he often expressed doubt that these worldviews could, in fact, be translated. herder and the possibility of translation He wrote of Homer and the ancient Greeks, “But could these poets have written their works in our language? In our time? With our ethics? Never!… I am hence in great despair about the translation of the oldest Greek poets.”1 Yet Herder’s unique views on language were ahead of their time, making his questions con- cerning translation worth considering.
Herder stood at the center of the German Enlightenment and German Romanticism, despite the contradictory natures of these intellectual movements. In 1762, he studied under the central philosopher of the German Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant, and remained deeply influenced by his work throughout his career. Yet in 1773 he also collaborated with Goethe in writing Von Deutscher Art und Kunst, which served as a manifesto for the Sturm und Drang Counter- Enlightenment movement, and provided a foundation for German Romanticism. This tension between Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment elements in Herder’s thought is the consequence of a unique philosophical account of the role of language in shaping thought.
To see what made Herder unique in his time, it’s helpful to contrast his concep- SAMPLEtions of reason and language with those of Kant. Kant’s writing develops the ar- chetypical Enlightenment picture of man: man is defined by the power to reason as well as a sensible nature. Unlike the beasts, man has the power to make judgments, and the conceptual apparatus that allows us to make judgments is shared amongst all human beings. We each reason according to the same laws of logic—or, at least, our thought is to be evaluated according to these laws of logic, though we may sometimes err in following them. Language, on this typical Enlightenment pic- ture, is a code by which we express our thoughts—which exist independently of language—to one another.
1 “Fragments on Recent German Literature” 42
william eck william eck 115 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
What made Herder unique and pulled him away from Enlightenment doctrine perience this “diligence” in a way that would be impossible to imitate by reading was that he saw thought to be dependent on language. He thought that a child the text in translation. And if the traits of a people are infused into their language, only learns how to think by learning how to speak—meaning that the particu- since language is the framework in which they think, then learning to speak a lar language a child learns to speak shapes both the world that child inhabits, and foreign language involves taking on a new stance towards the world, seeing the their ways of conceptualizing and inhabiting that world. So, unlike Kant and oth- world from a new lens. er philosophers who took the form of thought to be a universal form of human nature, Herder came to believe that there were many radically different ways of However, the “national character” that Herder discusses as being expressed by a seeing and thinking about this world, each appropriate for a given culture at a language actually goes deeper than the attitudes he finds embedded in language. particular point in history, and that these ways of seeing the world are embodied Herder argues that languages have thoughts and even judgments built into them. by a language. According to Herder, by means of language, our culture shapes “Whoever masters the entire scope of one language surveys a field full of thoughts, the way we reason. It is our histories and cultures make us reason and think the and whoever learns to express himself precisely in it thereby gathers for himself 3 There are a few ways of approaching this thought. herder and the possibility of translation way we do, not any eternal, innate faculty. Thus the study of man must involve a treasure of clear concepts.” First, by means of an example, we might consider how English differentiates be- the study of culture. tween such terms as “drizzle,” “rain,” “shower,” “rainstorm,” and “downpour.” If it is true that our thoughts are entirely shaped by the language that we speak, The fact that we have different terms for each of these phenomena suggests that, what do we hope to achieve by translating literature from one language to anoth- at some point in history, English speakers thought that it was worthwhile to dis- er, and what do we hope to learn by reading literature in translation? If different tinguish between a “drizzle” and a “downpour.” And being able to distinguish languages really do represent radically different worldviews, or different forms of between these two phenomena by the choice of one word over another remains life, how is translation possible? In taking languages to embody radically different useful—we know, for instance, whether to wear a raincoat or to bring an umbrel- forms of thought, we seem to rule out the possibility that one could genuinely la, or whether to wait out the storm. A central part of Herder’s idea here is that the take a thought from one language and convert it into another. But if something idea to distinguish between “drizzle” and “downpour” by creating distinct words like translation is possible, what might be the best method for translation? If all for each represents an idea or a series of judgments which have become embed- herder and the possibility of translation translation must, to some extent, fail, what approach should we take in order to ded into our language. minimize those failures? Furthermore, even simple judgments like “It’s raining out” license a number of One of Herder’s earliest essays, “On the Diligence in the Study of Several Learned inferences, and a failure to make those inferences upon hearing an utterance of Languages,” acutely poses the challenges translators face. The essay argues for the “It’s raining out” can amount to more than just a disagreement about facts—it can importance of reading literature in its original language, on the basis of the idea become a disagreement about language itself. If someone were to say “It’s raining that this language expresses a worldview that’s impossible to express in the new, out,” and you were to ask, in response, “Is the ground very wet?” and they were to destination language. Part of theSAMPLE goal of reading literature in its original language respond, “No, the ground is perfectly dry,” you would have to wonder what they is to come to an understanding of a different worldview. Herder proposes several meant by saying that it was raining. It simply cannot be the case that your inter- “national characters” which are captured in the respective languages of these cul- locutor means both that it is raining out and that the ground is perfectly dry—she tures: “I seek to join the thorough English temperament, the wit of the French, must be confused about the meanings of these words. That “The ground is wet” and the resplendence of Italy with German diligence. I encompass the spirit of follows directly from “It’s raining out” is a judgment built into the meanings of each people in my soul!”2 The diligence Herder sees in the German people, for the words “rain” and “wet,” built into the English language, on the view that I instance, may be reflected in the piecemeal construction of complex words from am here attributing to Herder. more basic words, or the precision of the case structure in the language. By learn- ing to read German and reading German texts in the original, the reader may ex-
2 “On Diligence” 32 3 “On Diligence” 33
116 william eck william eck 117 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Herder ends “On the Diligence” with a poem which compares the speakers of a its history, the practices of its inhabitants—and attempts to put herself into the cir- given language to bees, cumstances of the author. Herder writes:
who in scattered swarms The whole living painting of mode of life, habits, needs, peculiarities of whisper through the air, and fall upon clover and blossoming plants, land and climate, would have to be added or to have preceded; one would and then return to the hive burdened with sweet booty, have first tosympathize with the nation, in order to feel a single one of its 4 and bring us the honey of wisdom! inclinations or actions all together, one would have to finda single word, to 6 imagine everything in its fullness—or one reads—a word. A language, to Herder, represents not just a series of definitions, but also a body of knowledge, built up by all prior speakers of the language. It contains a shared Interpretation thus relies on a combination of knowledge (of a culture, their cir- cultural knowledge and a shared way of looking at the world. It is only, it would cumstances, and their practices) and empathy; we must use what we know about seem, by coming to learn a language and read a work of literature in this lan- a culture to feel as they felt, if such a thing is possible. The interpreter must ask guage, that we can fully appreciate the worldview this literature inhabits, fully herself, for instance, “If I had been an Ancient Greek, had I lived as they lived, had herder and the possibility of translation understand the thoughts expressed within it. I done as they did, had I felt what they felt, if I had spoken as they spoke, what would I have meant when I used this phrase in these circumstances?” In a text on In his early work, Herder thus often appears to be a skeptic concerning the pos- the Bible, The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, Herder further emphasizes the empathetic th sibility of successful translation. Just as Homer couldn’t have written in 18 ‑cen- role of this “feeling into”: tury German, 18th‑century Germans are not really reading Homer unless they’re reading him in Greek. “I feel sorry for those who want to read Homer in a trans- In order to judge of a nation, we must live in their time, in their own country, must adopt their modes of thinking and feeling, must see, how lation, even if it were as correct as possible,” Herder writes in his early essay they lived, how they were educated, what scenes they looked upon, “Fragments on Recent German Literature.” “You are no longer reading Homer, what were the objects of their affection and passion, the character of but something which approximately repeats what Homer said inimitably in his their atmosphere, their skies, the structure of their organs, their dances poetic language.”5 and their music. All this too we must learn to think of not as strangers 7
herder and the possibility of translation or enemies, but as their brothers and compatriots… Yet it was Herder’s appreciation for the radical differences in ways of thought ex- pressed in difficult cultures by different languages that led him, in the Volkslieder Herder’s writings on aesthetics are critical of his peers for judging ancient forms and elsewhere, to take the task of translation so seriously. Insofar as a work of of art according to contemporary standards of beauty and ethical values. For translation is successful, it can allow us to see the world in an entirely new way, example, an understanding and appreciation of an Ancient Greek sculpture of allow us to think thoughts that were inconceivable to us before. And so, even in Apollo can only come by means of an understanding of the practices surrounding questioning the possibility of the success of translation, in the “Fragments” Herder Greek sculpture and its role in Greek culture, as well as an investigation into the suggests a possible aim for translation. representation of the divine in physical form in this particular culture at this par- SAMPLEticular point of history. It is not that we must discard our meanings, values, and In his later philosophical writings, Herder begins to explore how translation standards in interpreting the work of another culture, but that we must consider might, indeed, be possible. The central component of Herder’s approach to trans- how these meanings, values, and standards would shift if we were to be a mem- lation is his conception of interpretation, embodied by his notion of “Einfühlung,” ber of another culture, if we were to live their histories. Thus a successful trans- or “feeling into,” developed in later works, including his famous essay, “This, Too, lation can only be the product of a successful act of interpretation. Ideally, it will a Philosophy of History.” By means of “feeling into” a text, the interpreter takes be one which brings to reader to a successful act of “feeling her way into” the up everything she knows about a culture—the climate under which it developed, language and the culture from which the literature was adapted. The possibility of
4 “On Diligence” 34 6 “This, Too, a Philosophy of History” 292 5 “Fragments” 41 7 SHP II 28
118 william eck william eck 119 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
translation relies on our ability to engage seriously with a culture, on both an In the “Fragments,” Herder claims that the translator of Homer must be “a cre- emotional and intellectual level, and to transform our own values and meanings ative genius if he wants to do justice to his original and to his language,” in part into theirs. because it will be impossible to make German into the kind of poetic language that Homer spoke.9 The argument I have developed on Herder’s behalf attributes It comes as no surprise that both a translator and as a theorist of interpretation, great significance to the act of translation, but it also imposes severe, potentially Herder values historical accuracy over readability. He takes great care to ensure unsatisfiable demands on the translator. But perhaps this conception of translation that translations refrain from assimilating the meanings of words which have as an impossible yet necessary act of bridging two disparate worldviews, however no correlate in the target language to any word in the target language. In the contradictory, will strike the reader of this magazine as not altogether implausible. “Fragments,” Herder is critical of historians of Ancient Greece who translate the Ancient Greek term καλοι κἀγαθοι / “kaloi k’agathoi” (roughly meaning “well- brought-up”) as either meaning a broadly ethical training or referring to a specific education in the arts and athletics. These translators fail, Herder argues, because Works Cited herder and the possibility of translation they have assimilated a term from a different conceptual framework into our own. Whereas we see a firm division between morality and training in the arts, the Greek sense of virtue acknowledged no such distinction, and a translation must, Forster, Michael After Herder. Oxford University Press, 2010. to whatever degree possible, reproduce the conceptual structure of the original. Herder, Johann Gottfried. “Fragments on Recent German Literature.” To a certain extent, the point of reading literature and poetry in translation is to Philosophical Writings, Edited by Michael Forster, Translated by Michael Forster, make us feel as though we are not quite “at home” in the text—or, perhaps more Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp. 33–64. accurately, to make us feel “at home” in the home of another culture. —.“On Diligence in the Study of Several Learned Languages.” Selected Early The intellectual historian Michael Forster notes that Herder’s method of transla- Works: 1764–1767. Edited by Ernest Menze and Karl Menges, Translated by tion often involves “bending” the use of a word in translation—consistently using Ernerst Menze and Michael Palma, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992, herder and the possibility of translation a single term to translate a term from the original language, even in cases where pp. 29–34. in the target language this term no longer seems appropriate. In the eyes of the reader, the meaning of the word in the target language then shifts to something —. “Fragments on Recent German Literature.” Philosophical Writings, Edited which resembles the meaning of the word in the language of origin.8 The idea, by Michael Forster, Translated by Michael Forster, Cambridge University Press, on the reading of Herder I have presented in this essay, is that the very unnatu- 2002, pp. 272–359. ralness of the use of the word forces the reader to divorce it from inferences she would otherwise make in her native language—for instance, moving from the —. The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, Vol. 2. Translated by James Marsh, Burlington, statement that a child was well-broughtSAMPLE up to the thought that that child acted 1883. in conformity to the moral standards of the Bible. Instead, she’ll begin to make inferences that a contemporary Greek reader of the text might have made—like that the child is familiar with the work of Homer. If this is does indeed happen, the language of the translated text will stand somewhere between the language of the original and the target language, borrowing from the character of each cul- ture to bring them closer together.
8 After Herder 146 9 “Fragments” 42
120 william eck william eck 121 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
garous abdolmalekian was born in 1980, days after the outbreak of the Contributors Iran-Iraq War, and lives in Tehran. He is the author of five poetry books and the recipient of the Karnameh Poetry Book of the Year Award and the Iranian Youth Poetry Book Prize. His poems have been translated into Arabic, French, German, Kurdish, and Spanish. Abdolmalekian is presently the editor of the poetry section at Chesmeh Publications in Tehran and the executive editor of publications at the Youth Poetry Office in Iran.
jasmine v. bailey’s first poetry collection,Alexandria , was published by Carnegie Mellon University Press in 2014 and won the Central New York Book Award. Her second collection, Disappeared, was published in 2017 by Carnegie Mellon, and her chapbook, Sleep and What Precedes It, won the 2009 Longleaf Press Chapbook Prize. She is the winner of Michigan Quarterly Review’s Laurence Goldstein Prize for poetry and Ruminate Magazine’s 2020 VanderMey Prize in nonfiction. She has been an Olive B. O’Connor Fellow at Colgate University, a Fulbright Fellow in Argentina, and a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center. She is a contributing editor for Waxwing Literary Journal.
Born in Latvia, baiba bičole left as a refugee during World War ii, and since 1950 has lived in the United States. A prominent Latvian poet since the 1970s, un- til Latvia regained its independence in 1991, she was known primarily in the West, as an exile poet, her work being banned in Latvia during the Soviet occupation.
sarah booker is a doctoral candidate at unc Chapel Hill and translator from Spanish. Recent or forthcoming translations include The Iliac Crest and Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country by Cristina Rivera Garza and Jawbone by Mónica Ojeda.
austin carder is a writer and translator based in Philadelphia. He received a b.a. in English from Yale in 2015 and is currently a ph.d. candidate in Comparative SAMPLELiterature at Brown. He is an editor and contributor at Caesura (caesuramag.org).
nancy naomi carlson has received two literature translation fellowships from the nea. She is a poet, translator, essayist, and senior translation edi- tor for Tupelo Quarterly, having authored ten titles (6 translated). An Infusion of Violets (Seagull, 2019) was named “New & Noteworthy” by the New York Times. www.nancynaomicarlson.com
contributors 127 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
ana cristina cesar (1952–1983) was a poet, critic, and translator from Rio de brian henry is the author of ten books of poetry, most recently Static & Snow Janeiro. She was also a prolific letter writer. Today her work has risen to cult sta- (Black Ocean, 2015). He has translated Tomaž Šalamun’s Woods and Chalices tus and she is considered one of Brazil’s most original literary voices. Her poetry, (Harcourt, 2008), Aleš Debeljak’s Smugglers (boa Editions, 2015), and Aleš Šteger’s which switches between prose and verse, is known for its epistolary, diaristic style Above the Sky Beneath the Earth (White Pine, 2019), Berlin (Counterpath, and feminist bent. 2015), and The Book of Things (boa Editions, 2010), which won the 2011 Best Translated Book Award. His poetry and translations have received numerous hon- magdalena chocano (Lima 1957) has published (Lima, Poesía a ciencia incierta ors and awards, including an nea Fellowship, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award, 1983), (Lima, 1987), (Barcelona, Estratagema en claroscuro contra el ensimismamiento a Howard Foundation Fellowship, and the George Bogin Memorial Award. He 2005), (Barcelona, 2008) (where the poems in this issue appear) and otro desenlace lives in Richmond, Virginia. poems in several journals and anthologies. Her writing has been translated into English, most notably in Poems Read in London (Cardboard House, 2015) trans- john high is a poet and translator. The author of eleven books, he is the chief ed- lated by William Rowe and Larisa Chaddick. itor of Crossing Centuries: The New Russian Poetry (Talisman) and a former mem- ber of the Moscow Poetry Club; he has translated several contemporary Russian jacqui cornetta is a multi-disciplinary artist. Her translations, poetry, and poets, including Nina Iskrenko, Ivan Zhdanov, and Alexei Parschikov. His most sound collaborations have appeared in A Perfect Vacuum, No, Dear magazine, recent book of writings, vanishing acts (the last part of a tetralogy) was published cuny , , , Lost & Found: Poetics Documents Initiative The Puerto Rico Review Portátil by Talisman House, and a new book is forthcoming from Wet Cement Press in among other places. She received an m.f.a. from Queens College cuny where 2020. He has received four Fulbright and two nea fellowships as well as grants she now teaches. from irex and The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry. He is a Zen monk in One of the most prominent and influential poets of Greece’s “Generation of the the Soto tradition and is currently living with Andrea Libin in Cambodia. Along ’70s,” antonis fostieris is the author of a number of poetry collections, most with Matvei Yankelevich he received an neh Fellowship to complete a new trans- lation of Osip Mandelstam’s . notably The Great Journey (1971), Dark Eros (1977), and The Devil Sang in Tune Voronezh Notebooks (1981), the last two of which were translated into English by Kimon Friar. His most may huang was born in Taiwan and raised in Hong Kong. She graduat- recent collection, , was published in 2013. Fostieris edited (黃鴻霙) Landscapes of Nothingness ed from the University of Chicago and is a member of the Third Coast Translators the influential journal New Poetry from 1974–1976 and has translated into Greek Collective. Her work has appeared in InTranslation, Asymptote, Cha, and elsewhere. works by Max Jacob and Henry Miller. The poems translated here are from a six- She is a mentee in alta’s 2020 Emerging Translators Mentorship Program. teen-poem sequence titled “Poetry Within Poetry.” He currently lives in Athens. mihret kebede is an Ethiopian poet and artist, a co-founder of Tobiya Poetic george fragopoulos’s poems and translations have appeared in the Found Jazz. She is currently a ph.d. candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Her Poetry Review, House Organ, Salamander, and Words Without Borders. He is the work is featured in the Wax and Gold: Poetry Jazz publication (2019), and in the editor of new editions of LauraSAMPLE Riding’s long out of print texts Experts Are first-ever anthology of Ethiopian Amharic poetry in English,Songs We Learn from Puzzled and Convalescent Conversations, both of which were published by Ugly Trees (Carcanet Press, May 2020). Duckling Presse in 2018. He is Assistant Professor of English at Queensborough Community College, cuny. ostap kin has edited an anthology New York Elegies, winner of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies 2020 Prize for Best Translation into English, john hennessy is the author of two poetry collections, Bridge and Tunnel and and co-translated, with John Hennessy, Serhiy Zhadan’s A New Orthography, and, Coney Island Pilgrims. Hennessy is the poetry editor of The Common and teaches at with Vitaly Chernetsky, Yuri Andrukhovych’s Songs for a Dead Rooster. the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
128 contributors contributors 129 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
chung kwok keung is a Hong Kong poet, essayist, and critic. A osip mandelstam was born in 1891 in Warsaw to a well-to-do Jewish family. (鍾國強) graduate of the University of Hong Kong, Chung has received numerous Youth He studied at the Sorbonne and in Heidelberg before finishing his education in St. Literary Awards and Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature, among Petersburg. In 1913 he published his first book,Stone , after helping found Acmeism other accolades. He is the author of eight poetry collections, including The (a movement set up in opposition to both Symbolism and Futurism). After the Growing House, Umbrellas that Blossom on the Road, and A Bright House Standing Civil War and the emergence of the new Soviet state, unwilling to change his in Light Rain. writing for the sake of the socialist cause, Mandelstam was marginalized as a cul- tural figure. For a time, he survived with the help of such political and literary larissa kyzer is a writer and Icelandic literary translator. She was Princeton figures as Nikolai Bukharin and Boris Pasternak. In 1934 Stalin sent Mandelstam University’s fall 2019 Translator in Residence and is a member of Ós, an Iceland- into exile, eventually to the city of Voronezh in central Russia because of a poem based international literary collective, as well as the American Literary Translators in which the poet depicted the dictator’s body in the language of “worms” and Association. Her translation of Kristín Eiríksdóttir’s A Fist or a Heart was awarded “cockroaches.” After interrogations, prisons, exile, and two attempted suicides, the American Scandinavian Foundation’s 2019 translation prize. She is co-chair Mandelstam died in a transit camp near Vladivostok on December 27, 1938. of pen America’s Translation Committee and runs the bi-monthly, NYC-based Women+ in Translation reading series Jill! ahmad nadalizadeh is a translator from the Persian and ph.d. candidate in comparative literature at the University of Oregon. silvina lópez medin was born in Buenos Aires and lives in New York. Her three books of poetry are La noche de los bueyes (Madrid, 1999), awarded the idra novey is a novelist, poet, and translator. She is the award-winning author International Young Poetry Prize, Esa sal en la lengua para decir manglar (Buenos of the novels Those Who Knew and Ways to Disappear. Her work has been trans- Aires, 2014), and 62 brazadas (Buenos Aires, 2015). Her play Exactamente bajo el lated into ten languages and she’s translated numerous authors from Spanish and sol won the Plays Third Prize by the Argentine Institute of Theatre. She co-trans- Portuguese, most recently Clarice Lispector. For her poetry and translation she lated Anne Carson’s Eros the Bittersweet (Buenos Aires, 2015) and Home Movies has received awards from the pen Translation Fund, the National Endowment (Buenos Aires, 2016), poems by Robert Hass. She co-edits the Señal series for for the Arts, and the Poetry Foundation. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. contemporary Latin American poetry at Ugly Duckling Presse. cristina rivera garza is an award-winning Mexican author, translator, and ghérasim luca was born in Bucharest in 1913, where he co-founded the critic. Her books in English translation include No One Will See Me Cry, The Romanian Surrealist group. Luca relocated to Paris (via Israel) in 1952, after which Iliac Crest, The Taiga Syndrome, Grieving, The Restless Dead, and La Castañeda. She he wrote exclusively in French. He was also a prolific visual artist who pioneered received her ph.d in Latin American history from the University of Houston, a collage technique known as “cubomania.” Luca committed suicide in 1994. The where she is currently Distinguished Professor in Hispanic Studies. poems in this issue of Circumference come from Luca’s 1976 book, Paralipomènes. gnaomi siemens The translator would like to thank Bertrand Fillaudeau of Les Éditions Corti and holds an m.f.a. from Columbia University School of The Arts Micheline Catti for permission toSAMPLE publish these poems. in poetry and literary translation. Her work can be found at Asymptote, Words Without Borders, The Believer, Slice Magazine, EuropeNow Journal, The American Journal of Poetry, Penny Thoughts (uk), and American Chordata, among others in the US and abroad. She has read her translations at The British Library’s Anglo- Saxon Kingdoms exhibition in London, was selected by The Poetry Society of New York for a residency at the iconic Mid-Manhattan branch of The New York Public Library, and was a 2019 alta Travel Fellow. She lives in New York City.
130 contributors contributors 131 CIRCUMFERENCE MAGAZINE
Slovenian writer aleš šteger has published seven books of poetry, three nov- matvei yankelevich’s most recent book of poetry is Some Worlds for Dr. Vogt els, and two books of essays. A Chevalier des Artes et Lettres in France and a (Black Square). His translations include Today I Wrote Nothing: The Selected Writings member of the Berlin Academy of Arts, he received the 1998 Veronika Prize for of Daniil Kharms (Ardis/Overlook), and he is the co-translator (with Eugene the best Slovenian poetry book, the 1999 Petrarch Prize for young European au- Ostashevsky) of Alexander Vvedensky’s An Invitation for Me to Think (nyrb Poets), thors, the 2007 Rožanc Award for the best Slovenian book of essays, and the 2016 which received a National Translation Award. He has been awarded fellowships International Bienek Prize. His work has been translated into over 15 languages, from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the including Chinese, German, Czech, Croatian, Hungarian, and Spanish. Five of Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He is a founding mem- his books have been translated into English: The Book of Things, which won the ber of the Ugly Duckling Presse editorial collective where he curates the Eastern 2011 Best Translated Book Award; Berlin; Essential Baggage; Above the Sky Beneath European Poets Series. He teaches at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and the Earth; and the novel Absolution. the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.
khal torabully is a prize-winning poet, essayist, film director, and semiolo- serhiy zhadan is a leading Ukrainian poet and writer. His books have been gist from Mauritius who has authored some 25 books. Torabully has given voice translated into more than a dozen languages. He has received the 2015 Angelus to the unimaginable suffering of millions of indentured laborers and coined the Central European Literary Award (Poland), the 2014 Jan Michalski Prize for term “coolitude” in the way Aimé Césaire coined the term “negritude,” imbuing Literature (Switzerland), the 2009 Joseph Conrad-Korzeniowski Literary Award it with dignity. (Ukraine), and the bbc Ukrainian Book of the Year award in 2006, 2010, and 2014. He lives in Kharkiv. kári tulinius is an Icelandic poet and novelist. He and his family move back and forth between Iceland and Finland like a flock of migratory birds confused about the whole “warmer climes” business.
bitite vinklers is a translator of Latvian folklore and contemporary literature. Her translations have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals, among them The Paris Review, Kenyon Review, and The Massachusetts Review. Recent translation collections include Imants Ziedonis, Each Day Catches Fire: Poems (Red Dragonfly Press, 2015) and Knuts Skujenieks, Seed in Snow: Poems (boa Editions, 2016).
elisa wouk almino is the translator of This House by Ana Martins Marques (Scrambler Books) and is a senior editor at Hyperallergic. She is a 2020 fiction judge of the Best Translated Book Award. Her translations and essays have ap- peared in the Paris Review, LitHubSAMPLE, Asymptote Journal, Words Without Borders, and other places.
132 contributors contributors 133 SAMPLE