A publication of the Division of Humanities • Pacific Lutheran University • Spring 2004 • Volume XVII • Number 1

SPECIAL ISSUE – Published as Volume II, No. 1 of Shadows and Echoes

Last year the faculty of the Department of Languages and Literatures published the first issue ofShadows and Echoes, a new journal devoted to the impossible task of literary translation. This spring the faculty of the Division of Humanities elected to devote the bulk of its annual publication, Prism, to Volume 2, Number 1 of Shadows and Echoes. Prism will return to its normal format next year. ShadowsShadows andand EchoesEchoes Contents 1 FROM THE DEAN From the Dean Barbara Temple Thurston, t is with pride and pleasure that the Division Dean of Humanities wrote: “Having been borne across the world, of Humanities brings to you this year’s vol- 2 LOST AND FOUND IN TRANSLATION I we are translated men. It is normally supposed Emily Dickinson, Wild Nights – Wild Nights! ume of Prism. The Department of Languages that something always gets lost in translation; I Translated into German by Christine and Literatures launched a new publication last cling obstinately to the notion that something Newcomb, into French by Helen year, and the Division decided to honor that can also be gained.” We, too, are committed Williams-Ginsberg, into Catalan by Maria achievement by devoting most of this year’s to this gain. Lightner-Ferrer, into Spanish by Paloma Prism to the most recent issue of Shadows and Martínez-Carbajo, into Latin by Rochelle Echoes. Faculty achievements that pertain to this area Snee, and into English once “again” by include the university’s $2 million grant from Eric Nelson. The topic of translation – the focus of this is- the Lilly Endowment for the Wild Hope Project, Rick Jones, Found in Translation. sue – is central to the endeavors of the Humani- which aims to improve at PLU the quality of 5 TEXTS IN TRANSLATION ties as a whole. All departments – English, Lan- our reflection on vocation. But this is only one Luz Mary Giraldo, Abuela en los recuerdos guages and Literatures, Philosophy, and Religion example of the fruits of our teaching, scholar- and Lezama y Proust bajo la sombra. – are engaged with interpreting, or translating, ship, and service. Two others are a successful Translated by Paloma Martínez-Carbajo. texts. Language is a code. To communicate, retreat this spring bringing together Humanities Victor Hugo, On est Tibère, on est Judas, on we must translate in one way or another, either faculty to clarify how we contribute to the global est Dracon [Les Châtiments, V, 6]. within the same tongue or between foreign education of our students through curricular Translated by Mark K. Jensen. tongues. Translation is a fundamental state of offerings connecting with opportunities for 7 TEXTS IN TRANSLATION WITH human affairs. study and research abroad, and our participa- COMMENTARY tion in the new Hong International Hall open- Maria Lightner-Ferrer, On Translating Two ing in September 2004. As a Division we are Poems by Langston Hughes: ‘Letter from Christiane Nord has written that “translation committed to the study of foreign languages, Spain’ and ‘Postcard from Spain.’ is an intentional interaction intending to change Christine Newcomb, Agreeable Meals – Hard an existing state of affairs.” It is manifestly the for we know that in learning about the other to Digest: On a Poem by August Wilhelm case that communication among nations, lin- we come to know ourselves. Schlegel. guistically and culturally different, has become Nelson Mandela, when asked why he wanted 14 ARTICLES more imperative than ever in our contemporary Maria del Carmen Fernández Martín, world, for misunderstandings can generate es- his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, to Translating Humorous Poetry: Re- calating violence and war. be published in all eleven of South Africa’s Inventing Tim Burton’s Gloomy Shop official languages (Afrikaans, English, Zulu, of Horrors. The Division of Humanities seeks common Xhosa, Ndebele, Venda, Swati, Sesotho, Sepedi, María Luisa R. Lacabe, Does the English- bonds among the world’s peoples. In its sup- Tsonga, and Tswana), said: “This book has been Speaking World Need Another Translation port for the study of languages, world religions, translated into practically all the languages in of Don Quixote? philosophies, and literary points of view, it seeks the world. I can go to any place on earth and 17 BRIEFLY NOTED to promote what is best and most noble about my story can be found there in that language. I Star in My Forehead: Selected Poems by human life. At the center of its work in a global- want to be part of all the languages of my coun- Else Lasker-Schüler. Translated by Janine ized world are the broad notions of translation, try. One’s language should never be a dead end. Canan. Reviewed by Janet Holmgren. communication, and understanding. That is why I believe in translation:continued for on us page to be 2 18 INTERVIEW able to live together.” Equal to Writing: An Interview with Zafer Senocakç on Literary Translation. Salman Rushdie recognized the worth of Barbara Temple-Thurston 20 RECENT HUMANITIES PUBLICATIONS translation in today’s hybrid world when he Dean of the Division of Humanities Lost and Found in Translation n what Shadows and Echoes hopes will be an annual feature, Lost and Found in Translation takes a poem by Emily Dickinson and Itranslates it through a number of languages (German, French, Catalan, Spanish, and Latin) before bringing it (or something!) back into English. Each of the translators worked only from the text immediately preceding. Prof. Richard Jones of the Department of English agreed to comment on the project. His essay, entitled “Found in Translation,” begins on page 3.

Wild Nights – Wild Nights! Wilde Nächte – Wilde Nächte! Nuits sauvages, nuits d’orages Were I with thee Wär’ ich doch mit euch Quelle douceur serait nôtre 1 Wild Nights should be 2 Dann wären wilde Nächte, 3 Si auprès de vous Our luxury! Unsere Freud’! Je m’y fi gurais Futile – the Winds – Nutzlos – die Winde – Nulle rafale n’atteint To a Heart in port – Für ein Herz im Hafen – Le coeur ancré au port Done with the Compass – Am Ende des Suchens – Fini les voyages Done with the Chart! Am Ende des Planens! Fini les transports Rowing in Eden – Rudern im Eden – Naviguant au paradis Ah, the Sea! Oh, die See! Ô la mer Might I but moor – Tonight – Könnt’ ich nur ankern – Heute – Rivée à ton coeur In Thee! In ihr! Puisse je m’apaiser

– Emily Dickinson – Translated by Christine Newcomb – Translated by Helen Williams-Ginsberg

O wild nights, tempestuous nights! Nits salvatges, nits de tempesta For us, how sweet, should I see me Quina dolçor seria la nostra 7 Sitting with you. 4 si a prop teu, amb tu jo m’ imaginés. No hurricane threatens a heart At anchor, secured in port Cap ràfega no trasbalsa Its journey complete. el cor fondejat a port fi nalitzats els viatges Rise to the highest heavens, O Sea! fi nalitzats els transports. Bound by your heart I could become Tranquil in mind. Navegant cap al paradís. Oh, mar – Translated by Eric Nelson lligada al teu cor em pugui jo asserenar.

– Translated by Maria Lightner-Ferrer

O noctes truces, noctes tempestatum Noches salvajes, noches de tormenta, Nobis quam dulce sit si videam me Qué dulzura sería la nuestra 6 Ad te sedere. 5 Si cerca de ti Me viera yo. Nulla procella molesta, aliquando Animus ancoris stetit in portu, Ninguna ráfaga molesta, Cursu confecto. Fondeado el corazón en puerto, Acabados los viajes, Vecta ad extrema caelestium, o mare, Concluidas las singladuras. Capta animo tuo possem fi eri Tranquilla mente. Navegando hacia el paraíso, Oh, mar, – Translated by Rochelle Snee Ligada a tu corazón, Pueda yo serenarme.

– Translated by Paloma Martínez-Carbajo Prism Spring 2004 2 Found in Translation

R. P. Jones

The woe that is translation In the early sixties Louis and Celia Zukofsky tried an inter- esting experiment: they all but abandoned accurate meaning in iterary translation is an odd and unnatural act—all but im- favor of imitating the sound of the original. So far as we know possible. Translation normally tries to take meaning from L Zukofsky’s “homophonic translations” are the first to empha- one language and put it in another. Even at its most simple it size phonetic similarity rather than original meaning. is neither easy nor exact—even when working with language that tries to be mono-dimensional and factual, language trying Catullus to say one thing and one thing only, it often fails. Canto 27, original version: The language of poetry is not like that; it’s worse; it’s more difficult. Poetry tries to express complex thoughts and feelings, Minister uetuli puer Falerni with all their contradictions, hopes, fears, doubts and certain- inger mi calices amariores, ties, projections and conjectures—all at once. It is a language ut lex Postumiae iubet magistrae beginning in fact but always trying to move beyond that to a ebrioso acino ebriosioris. more complete, emotional truth. at uos quo lubet hinc abite, lymphae, uini pernicles, et ad seueros As a poem tries to do all this, it uses every resource of lan- migrate. hic merus est Thyonianus. guage it can find. It appeals to as many of our senses as the subject might involve, the old “show, don’t tell” bit. But a poem Minister wet to lee, pour the Falernian includes more than the visual; it includes sounds: hard and soft, and gear me chalices, ah by bitterest, fast and slow, strident or soothing, all to help evoke a mood. It the law’s Postumia, you bet magistral, often relies on the histories words carry with them, and our eh breezy kin a grape-loving breeziness. familiarity with those words and their histories to surround us Adieus qualifying between water and with associations and memories. Beyond that, poems some- wine are pernicious, let the odd serious times use traditional forms to set up expectations—either to migrate: high! pure the thing on us ‘s the wine god’s. fulfill them or to counter and subvert them [“my mistress’ eyes – Louis and Celia Zukofsky are very like the sun;” would be expected; “my mistress’ eyes are (London: Cape Golliard, 1969), and in Collected Shorter Poems. nothing like the sun” was a nice twist] Such formal expecta- tions are context sensitive; they rely on cultural expectations and Strict metrical translation is yet another approach, but it histories, the familiarities of a writer’s contemporary audience. mostly fails since the measures appropriate for one language Types of translation are seldom suitable for another. The Greek meters worked well enough for the Roman poets, but the old hexameters failed to A translation may try to do a number of different things, come across well in English and were shortened to pentameters sometimes exclusively, sometimes simultaneously. In school when Surrey published part of Book IV of the Aeneid in 1554. we were taught first to construe our way through a text to be Most poetry translated into English recently has come through sure we understood the structure of the original, the relation- as free or otherwise irregular verse. ship of the words and phrases to each other. Then we tried to turn that awkward phrasing into more fluent, but still accurate, Seamus Haney’s translation of Beowulf, while not slavishly sentences. The goal was to be as true to the original meaning metric, seems to catch the tone of the original along with a as possible. Sometimes the tone or mood of the original got good dose of its alliterative sounds. lost, but the “meaning” remained. A freer translation, perhaps more accurately an imitation, [Grendel] struck suddenly and started in; might try to take the original and rephrase it in the new lan- he grabbed and mauled a man on his bench, guage the way the author might. “How would Homer say that bit into his bone-lappings, bolted down his blood in English now?” Robert Lowell’s Imitations (1967) worked and gorged on him in lumps, leaving the body along those lines: utterly lifeless, eaten up hand and foot. “I have been reckless with literal meaning, and labored hard to get the tone. Most often this has been a tone, for the tone Translation indulges in compromise. Tone gets sacrificed for is something that will always more or less escape transfer- literal meaning or meaning gets mauled by tone. Incompatible ence to another language and cultural moment. I have tried metrics hobble the image and the music of language gets lost. to write a live English and to do what my authors might have Yet we try, generation after generation, to re-translate the done if they were writing their poems now and in America.” classics, trying to keep them alive.

Prism Spring 2004 3 The currents of change syllables longer in German, still, that’s Perhaps she wanted the idea of where American romanticism had its mooring and tonight in closer proximity Our trip starts with Emily Dickinson’s early roots, so I suspect the “wild(e)” that a line break would leave them, “Wild Nights” (# 249) in the Ameri- both express the romantic sublime. leaving the line break to extend the can idiom of Amherst, Massachusetts, The French changes to “sauvages” and pause, set up with by dash at the end around 1860. The poem moves next “orages” which are close, but seem just a of the penultimate line, to heighten the to German, then to the neighboring bit afield. As the words head south they effect, the surprise, of her ultimate “In French, crossing a southern boarder it become “salvatges” and “tempesta” in Thee!” becomes Catalan, then moving further Catalan, then “salvajes” and “tormenta” south--perhaps—it changes to Spanish. in Spanish. The shift to “tormenta” That’s her form and a bit of what she The poem’s next trip is back in time to probably suggests “truces” (trux, trucis, did to it, but how would she have used Latin. Finally it returns, almost home, threatening, stern) in the idiom of form had she been a Roman living not to the American idiom—but a century Horace, say, 30 B.C. near Tivoli. The far from Horace’s villa in Tivoli? and a half later. I’d like to think Dickin- tone has gotten more serious, or slightly son would be pleased with this experi- threatening. “Ah, the Sea” has changed The Latin version answers that. Since ment. After all, she told us: “There is to “o mare” and “Wild Nights” to “O Isaac Watts hadn’t yet written his several no Frigate like a Book/To take us Lands noctes truces, noctes tempestatum.” The hundred hymns, and the ballad stanza away….” Her twenty-four foot dory has suggestion of awe in “Ah” has changed to (same measure) wasn’t yet a gleam in crossed the Atlantic, paddled around the a more ominous “oh.” a minstrel’s eye, what was a poet to do? Mediterranean, and crossed the Atlantic I’d like to think Dickinson would have again. “Port,” “compass,” “chart” “row- But there’s another change when chosen Sappho as her model for this ing,’ “sea,” “and “moor” change accents Dickinson’s poem rows back in time, romantic yearning. Horace borrowed throughout their travels, but carry on a change of form. Dickinson’s poems, the Greek measure from Sappho; the nautical metaphors of the original. most of them, can be hammered out Dickinson—whose craft was equal to “Wild Nights” carries through with some to the tune of “Oh, God our help in his—would have done the same—but variation, but I wonder whether the ages past,” a popular Isaac Watts hymn changed it some to make it hers. The winds of nineteenth century American she must have heard floating down Latin version does that. The traditional romanticism, with their suggestion of the and across the street from the nearby Sapphic has two different verses, the first sublime, are quite as prevailing in these church near the square in Amherst. Just (the lesser Sapphic) repeated three times, translations into their several modern as she savaged the hymn’s strong beat the final (a five syllable line) called the tongues. And the Romans seem too by changing its rhythms with pauses Adonic used once brings the stanza to practical and controlled for such wild dropped—sometimes twice—in a a tight, curt end. Dickinson’s poem is indulgences. single tetrameter line, she plays free too terse for the four lines, so the Latin with the formal line structure in “Wild version has only two lesser Sapphics and Stylistically, the Dickinson dash—and Nights.” With some variation, mostly an Adonic—perhaps a new meter after its suggested pause and shift of voice— in the middle stanza, she writes a four all these years: the least Sapphic. So just runs through the German, but loses its syllable, two beat, mostly iambic line. as Dickinson’s poem takes its own metric wind and isn’t seen again. And while The second to last line “Might I but liberties; its Latin incarnation plays— the German keeps a good bit of the moor—Tonight—” seems to pirate its likewise—with its own chosen form. breathless tone, something changes when last word from the final line (where form the original “Ah, the Sea!” becomes “Oh, would have it). And finally, as the well traveled die See!” The open yearning “Ah” closes frigate—or dory—comes back to its down in the rounder, slightly tighter, Rowing in Eden— almost original moorage, what remains “Oh.” It’s such a slight change that it Ah, the Sea! of its cargo? The wild romanticism didn’t seem important at first, but the Might I but moor— has been mostly jettisoned. “No” has a “Oh” never changes back. They are not Tonight—In Thee! stronger blunt sense than “futile.” But quite interchangeable. – Various “edited” versions. for some incomprehensible reason the mood of the original “were” and “might” Donald Hall tells us there are Rowing in Eden— come through—a little wetter for the no synonyms; no two words mean Ah, the Sea! wear—as “should” and “could.” The exactly the same thing, carry the same Might I but moor—Tonight— not-exactly-assertions of the original connotations. Dickinson’s “Wild In Thee! remain, as yearnings or apprehensions, Nights” stay “Wilde Nächte” about – As it appears in both the Thomas H. something to want or something that just as close as you can get, but two light Johnson and R. W. Franklin editions. isn’t, optative or subjunctive. Sometimes

Prism Spring 2004 4 when the structure of language gets photocopies of what each translator “Thanks, I did.” simpler, it gets less precise. passed on to the next, I see: “Have fun!” Perhaps this is why we keep trying, “Have fun…,” “éste es el poema…,” generation after generation, to re- There’s more and there’s more and “enjoy!” “This was actually fun!” and translate the classics, to keep them alive. there’s more, but what I want to do “We had fun with this.” And “I think And—because of these sorts of games— here is suggest how rich this exercise you’ll enjoy this.” And at my end I add : they still are. is in its implications. I’ve only had a few days to read and think about the translations and what this all amounts to. And from the notes I’ve seen on Texts in Translation the photocopies of the manuscripts, no one else had much more time. Abuela en los recuerdos Grandma in My Memory This happened almost as fast as a Luz Mary Giraldo Luz Mary Giraldo parlor game proposed to make a long Doblas y desdoblas camisas Folding and unfolding shirts evening go quickly. It’s an old game, Como atando y desatando el tiempo. Like tying and untying time. known by various names: “telephone,” Aquí las medias y la caja de zapatos Here, the stockings and the shoe box, “gossip,” “rumor”—depending who A este lado el sacón para el frío de la tarde There, the coat for the evening cold, you ask. Or as Virgil might whisper El traje oscuro en la fiesta de sombras The dark suit in the fiesta of the shadows, into whomever’s ear was next: “Fama Y el rojo para suavizar la pena. And the red one to soothe the pain. est ut…." En el baúl duermen In the trunk sleep El velo de la infancia The veil of childhood So— Y el terciopelo de los años. And the velvet of all the years. El camisón bordado hace la siesta entre las The embroidered gown naps between the My fifth grade teacher Mr. Fair, who sábanas sheets, also taught Latin and took me to see Y el pañuelo de seda guarda reliquias de And the silk scarf keeps mementos of a Coriolanus because I conjugated some un desvelo. restless night. verb correctly, and who didn’t have a first name because no fifth grade La casa que tú llevas The house that you carry teachers had first names then, said: Contigo arrebujada Clutched to you “An educated man is never bored.” Es un solar de tiempo Is a waste land of time That was some fifty years ago when Y un patio de cerezos And a terrace of cherry trees; teachers didn’t have first names, sex Es la cena servida en la noche de todos It is dinner served in everyone’s night, was no more than gender, and being Niños en los jardines Children in the garden, politically correct had something to Y un oculto secreto. And a hidden secret. do with being a registered voter. Páginas donde hay versos Pages where there are verses, Oraciones y sueños. Prayers and dreams. So what? So I have liked doing this. Un ramo de violetas A bouquet of violets I have been able to call on things I’ve Con olor a jazmín Scented of jasmine, learned from Mr. Fair to the present. A yerbabuena Peppermint, A viento. Wind. I have engaged in an intellectual exchange with a number of intelligent Un ícono de fondo luminoso An icon with a luminous background people, some of whom I have known, Duerme en la sala Sleeps in the parlor, some of whom I hope to. In all this Y la palabra Prism Spring 2004 5And the word I have been the lucky one; their tasks Espera en la puerta de la entrada Waits at the front door were circumscribed: each to translate Con la copa de vino With the glass of wine, the translation handed down. They Un mantel de dos letras A two-lettered tablecloth, had to look at a poem in one language Y la campana que tañe al recordar los And the bell that tolls upon remembering and try to make it exist in another, not muertos. the dead. an enviable task—all but impossible with Dickinson. All I was asked was La casa que tú llevas The house that you carry make a few notes on what I noticed Tejida en el silencio Woven in silence them doing. Dobla y desdobla Folds and unfolds Tu sueño y tu desvelo. Your sleep and your restlessness.

As I take a final look at my – Translated by Paloma Martínez-Carbajo

PrismPrism SpringSpring 2004 2004 5 5 Cuando me falta el aire Cuando me falta el aire Por el nombre sin nombre Pregunto si Marcel Pregunto si en el tiempo perdido Por la rosa Recorre su habitación Quedó un camino de cerezos Por la copla de Orfeo Como un refugio de silencio Una copa de vino derramado Por la danza Y escribe en las paredes Algún amor al borde de la puerta Por la angustia secreta del infierno Las líneas perdidas de los sueños. O un girasol en la ventana. Por el paraíso y sus delicias. O si Lezama saca del fondo del espejo Me pregunto si los tristes arlequines de Su ahogado Narciso Picasso Y como un camaleón sobre la hierba Del “tiempo dorado por el Nilo” Están en la memoria persistente Veo pasar las horas con el viento Y ve caer las hojas de los árboles Y si ese dios que sueña Y me cambia la piel Como libros abiertos. Baja de los altares Los sueños A soplar el aliento La música es distinta Pregunto si Nerval Hasta que vuelva a la vida La habitación se aleja Busca en el fantasma de Aurelia Con su canto de ciegos Y me trae a Marcel Un plácido rumor de golondrina Y su andar errabundo y de sorpresas. A Lezama Y si en las noches Mozart A mi padre Convoca el ajedrez de un piano Cuando se pierde el aire A la sombra Hasta que nace un réquiem o un presagio. Tejo una colcha de voces Y al cansado bufón de algún poema. Veo una calle de memorias Que vienen desde el día en que Ulises Veo un aleph Hizo su viaje de vencer el miedo Los ojos Y pasa por Werther La sombra de los nombres Por Ema Veo paisajes solitarios. Por Alicia

Lezama and Proust in the Shadow Luz Mary Giraldo

When I’m out of breath When I’m out of breath, By an unnamed name, I wonder if Marcel I wonder if in the lost time By the rose, Paces his room, A cherry path remained, By Orpheus’s rhyme, Like a refuge of silence, A spilled glass of wine, By the dance, And if on his walls he writes Some love at the doorstep, By the secret anguish of inferno, The lost lines of dreams. Or a sunflower in the window. By the paradise lost and its pleasures. Or if Lezama pulls from the depths of I wonder if Picasso’s sad harlequins the mirror Are in the persistent memory, And, like a chameleon on the grass, His drowned Narcissus And if that god who dreams I see hours pass the wind, From the “golden age on the Nile” Comes down from the altars And it changes my skin, And sees the leaves fall from the trees like To exhale breath Dreams, open books. Until life returns with its blind man’s Music is different, chant The room drifts away I wonder if Nerval And its surprising wandering step. And brings me Marcel, Searches for a placid whisper of a shallow Lezama, In Aurélia’s ghost, When one is out of breath, My father, And if at night Mozart I weave a quilt of voices The shadow, Summons the chessboard of a piano That have been coming since the day And the tired buffoon of some poem. Until a requiem or an omen are born. Ulysses I see a street of memories, Took his trip to overcome fear – Translated by Paloma Martínez-Carbajo I see an aleph, And passes by Werther, The eyes, By Emma, The shadow of names, By Alice, I see solitary landscapes.

PrismPrism SpringSpring 2004 2004 66 On est Tibère, on est Judas, on est Dracon Who are they? Judas. Tiberius. Draco. [Les Châtiments, V, vi] Victor Hugo Victor Hugo

On est Tibère, on est Judas, on est Dracon ; Who are they? Judas. Tiberius. Draco. Et l’on a Lambessa, n’ayant plus Montfaucon. If not Montfaucon, they have Guantánamo. On forge pour le peuple une chaîne ; on enferme, They forge a chain and lock the people up, On exile, on proscrit le penseur libre et ferme ; They exile and proscribe those who speak up; Tout succombe. On comprime élans, espoirs, regrets, They crush enthusiasm, hope, the best -- La liberté, le droit, l’avenir, le progrès, Freedom, justice, the future, and progress, Comme faisait Séjan, comme fit Louis onze, The way Sejanus did, or Louis Onze, Avec des lois de fer et des juges de bronze. With iron laws and sentences of bronze. Puis, – c’est bien, – on s’endort, et le maître joyeux Then – satisfied – they go to sleep, content: Dit : l’homme n’a plus d’âme et le ciel n’a plus d’yeux. “There is no soul, we are the government.” O rêve des tyrans ! l’heure fuit, le temps marche, O dream of tyrants! Time is on the march, Le grain croît dans la terre et l’eau coule sous l’arche. Seeds grow, and waters flow beneath the arch. Un jour vient où ces lois de silence et de mort A day will come when their dark laws of death Se rompant tout à coup, comme, sous un effort, Will all give way, like one outrushing breath, Se rouvrent à grand bruit des portes mal fermées, And all the doors they tried to close will ope, Emplissent la cité de torches enflammées. Flooding our city with fire, light and hope.

17 janvier 1853. January 17, 1853.

– Translated by Mark K. Jensen

Texts in Translation With Commentary On Translating Two Poems by Langston Hughes: Letter from Spain and Postcard from Spain.* Maria Lightner-Ferrer

his essay serves as an introduction Langston Hughes was in Spain for a his book The Life of Langston Hughes: Tand commentary to a translation period of approximately six months. He into Spanish of two poems by Langston crossed the Spanish border from France I knew that Spain once belonged to Hughes. The poems’ appeal relies on the on July 24, 1937, with his good friend the Moors, a colored people ranging link the poet establishes between the Spain the Cuban poet, Nicolás Guillén, after from light dark to dark white. in Civil War (1936-1939) and his own first visiting Paris for a week. Then he Now the Moors have come again social problems at home in America. The recrossed it again in mid-December 1937, to Spain with the fascist armies as poet conveys in a few lines an analysis of when he left the country still submerged cannon fodder for Franco. But, the universal situation of colored men in the civil war, knowing that the official on the loyalist side, there are many and women, told within the context of the government and its loyalist peoples were Negroes of various nationalities in fight against fascism in Spain, while at the about to be defeated. Both men were sent the International Brigades. I want same time evaluating Europe’s colonial to Spain by their respective newspapers to to write about both Moors and legacy in Africa and America. write articles on the civil war and to give Negroes. (349) an account of what was going on in Spain to the American and Cuban publics. And this is what he did. He wrote * “Letter from Spain” and “Postcard from There was one main objective in Hughes’ about these complete strangers who Spain” appear in Rampersad, Arnold, ed., mind when he agreed to go to Spain in fought against each other. Some of them The Collected Works of Langston Hughes, those difficult times, namely, to investi- knew very well what they were fighting vol. 1, The Poems: 1921-1940 (Columbia gate and to report on the colored people for, while others were unaware of the and London: University of Missouri who were participating on each side of reason, they went simply because they Press, 1984), 252-54. the fight. Arnold Rampersad cites him in had been ordered to the battlefield.

Prism Spring 2004 7 As Langston Hughes states, the Letter from Spain Carta desde España presence of Moors in Spain was nothing Langston Hughes Langston Hughes new. What was new in the second part Addressed to Alabama Drigido a Alabama of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was the presence of the Lincoln Battalion, Batallón Lincoln, Spanish in Morocco, as part of Spain’s International Brigades, Brigadas Internacionales, efforts to figure as a colonial power November Something, 1937. Algún día de noviembre de 1937 among the European countries. In spite of the frequent incursions, rebellions, Dear Brother at home: Querido hermano que stás en casa: power struggles, inflated patriotism, the We captured a wounded Moor today. Hoy capturamos a un moro herido. colonial subjects were seen as part of He was just as dark as me. Era tan oscuro como yo. an African mission with tones of an old I said, Boy, what you been doin’ here Le dije: chico, ¿qué stás haciendo aquí time religious crusade against the Moors Fightin’ against the free? luchando contra la libertad? (Carr 257). He answered something in a language Me contestó algo en una lengua The Colony acted as a back yard, I couldn’t understand que no pude entender. training camp, livelihood, etc. for the But somebody told me he was sayin’ Pero alguien me dijo que decía Spanish army. The Spanish government They nabbed him in his land que lo habían agarrao en su villa created a body of Foreign Legion fighters in the Colony who later along with the And made him join the fascist army y le obligaron a unirse a los fascistas Moroccan “regulares” soldiers, played a And come across to Spain y a cruzar el estrecho a Spaña. big role in the early days of the Civil War. And he said he had a feelin’ Y me dijo que presentía He’d never get back home again. ca su tierra jamás regresaría.

On the other hand, the Fifteenth He said he had a feelin’ Me dijo que presentía International Brigade was created in This whole thing wasn’t right. calgo malo iba a pasar January 1937 in Albacete and, according He said he didn’t know Me dijo que no conocía to Rampersad, “comprised separate The folks he had to fight. a la gente qui ba a matar. British, Canadian, Hispanic (from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Latin And as he lay there dying Y cuando en mi presencia moría America), and United States Battalions. In a village we had taken, allí en donde lo habían apresao, The Americans, over 3,300 in number, of I looked across to Africa miré buscando a Africa And seed foundations shakin’. y vi sus cementos agitaos. whom between 80 and 100 were black, formed mostly the Abraham Lincoln Cause if a free Spain wins this war, Ya que si gana esta guerra la España libre, Battalion and a subsidiary outfit, the The colonies, too, are free – también las colonias lo serán – Washington Battalion” (347). Then something wonderful’ll happen y algo maravilloso les sucederá To them Moors as dark as me. a los moros tan oscuros como yo. It was in this Brigade that Langston Hughes sought out colored soldiers I said, I guess that’s why old England Le dije: por eso la vieja Inglaterra fighting against fascism. During the And I reckon Italy, too, e Italia mimagino, también, six months he spent in Spain, he had Is afraid to let a workers’ Spain tiene miedo que la España de los trabajadores a chance to meet all kinds of colored Be too good to me and you – sea con nosotros dos tan fiel - soldiers, volunteers, fighters, cooks, Cause they got slaves in Africa – Ya cay esclavos en África- ambulance drivers, doctors, baseball And they don’t want ‘em to be free. y no quieren que sean libres. players, nurses, etc. whom he had a Listen, Moorish prisoner, hell! ¡Oye!, moro, prisionero, ¡joder! chance to interview, and from whom he Here, shake hands with me! ¡estréchame la mano! heard about others who had died already on the battlefield before he could reach I knelt down there beside him, Me arrodillé a su lado, them. And I took his hand – y le tomé la mano - But the wounded Moor was dyin’ pero el moro herido se moría In his memoirs, I Wonder as I Wander, And he didn’t understand. sin saber qué le decía. Hughes dedicates a whole chapter to the time he spent in Spain. In reading it, one Salud, Salud, sees the vision he had in regard to his Johnny Johnny situation as a black man in the United – Translated by Maria Lightner-Ferrer

Prism Spring 2004 8 States of America. His objective was policy toward Morocco” (353). the Spanish play !Ay, Carmela! (1986) by universalizing colored men and women, José Sanchís Sinisterra.2 and creating a common front and a com- In short, this nonsensical situation cre- mon fight against all forms of fascism, ates an image that borders on the absurd. Regarding the translation I have un- which he saw as the force that was keep- It brings up the analysis of the Colonial dertaken of these two poems, the main ing black men and women in America discourse that years before Spanish writ- objective and the most challenging in the from achieving their natural rights. In ers pertaining to the “Generación del 98” process of translation, has been trying 1 his mind, the Brigades, in Spain, were had written about. Moroccan soldiers to be accurate with the linguistic register fighting a double battle, namely, a battle fought on the side of the strong, and this Hughes uses in his poems. On more against the rebels who were trying to gave them a social status that otherwise than one occasion, Hughes was criticized overthrow Spain’s elected Republic, they never would have had in the Span- for his use of slang and misspelling in and a battle against fascism, which was ish society. But as soon as they were his poems. He explains in I Wonder as I perpetuating the racist, class, and other wounded or died, they would return to Wander: “I gave a program of my poems differences among human beings. their real world, the world in which they for a group of Brigadiers, and I read were colonial subjects. It was a world some of the “Letters from Spain” in verse In his memoirs, he states that he felt that did not offer them full credit for that I had written. Afterwards there was very comfortable in Spain regarding their actions, one that would place them a discussion. Some of the Internationals his race. He writes: “I was well received in the last seats of a theatre, behind the objected to the lack of correct grammar everywhere I went, and the Negroes in Italian troops, and even further behind and the slightly broken English that I the International Brigade reported a the Germans, close to the leftist war had used in these Letters” (378). They similar reception” (I Wonder 351). prisoners, as seen in the film version of complained that they were well educated,

One day, he faces a young black Arab man wounded in the hospital in Madrid. Postcard from Spain Postal desde España He is a prisoner from Africa, a thirteen- Langston Hughes Langston Hughes year-old boy who had been wounded in Adressed to Alabama Dirigida a Alabama the battle of Brunete. His mother had died there. Hughes writes: Lincoln-Washington Battalion Batallón Lincoln-Washington, April, 1938 Abril de 1938 The rebels, I learned later, imported Dear Folks at Home: Queridos amigos que stáis en casa: women and men – women to accompany the troops, to wash I went out this mornin’ Esta mañana al salir, and cook for them behind the Old shells was a-fallin’ la metralla me llovía, lines. The Moorish troops were Whistlin’ and a-fallin’ silbando y cayéndome encima colonial conscripts, or men from When I went out this mornin’. esta mañana al salir. the Moroccan villages enticed into the army by offers of what seemed I’m way over here Y hasta aquí he llegao to them very good pay. Franco’s A long ways from home, tan lejos de casa, personal bodyguard consisted of Over here in Spanish country aquí en este país de España But I don’t feel alone. pero no me siento aislao. Morocco soldiers, tall picturesque fellows in flowing robes and winding Folks over here don’t treat me La gente da quí no me trata turbans. (350) Like white folks used to do. como los blancos lo hacían allí. When I was home they treated me Cuando estaba en casa me trataban Hughes cannot help commenting Just like they treatin’ you. Como hora te tratan a ti. on the paradoxical situation in which these foreign fighters are submerged. I don’t think things’ll ever No creo que las cosas While they are victims of a colonial Be like that again: vuelvan a ser como antes: status themselves, they are at the same I done met up with folks pues me topao con gentes time fighting for the imposition of a Who’ll fight for me now ca hora lucharán por mí traditional, old-fashioned Catholic Like I’m fightin’ now for Spain. como hora yo lucho por su España. government, one that is ironically attempting to overthrow a liberal Salud, Salud, government that according to Hughes Johnny Johnny “has been seeking to work out a liberal – Translated by Maria Lightner-Ferrer

Prism Spring 2004 9 and that he “might mistakenly be aiding In my case, my job with Langston For this reason, my translation of the in perpetuating a stereotype” (378). He Hughes is much easier because the poems’ inaccuracies has attempted to continues: linguistic register Hughes uses, as he follow the phonetic pattern more than says, is reduced to few cases of incorrect the adaptation of grammatical errors. One of the things I was trying to grammar and some slightly broken I have already mentioned the use of show in my poems was that even the English. Regarding special cases such as present participles and other words least privileged of Americans, the the translation of names, puns, play on ending in –ing in Hughes’s two poems. Southern Negroes, were represented words, etc., Elagin comments, “Proverbs, My choice in this case for the translation in the International Brigades, sayings, songs, rhymes and abbreviations has been mainly to change the past fighting on the side of the Spanish make up a special category of stumbling participles’ endings. There are two peasants and workers to help them blocks in literary translation. Every regular ending forms: –ado, and –ido. It preserve a government that would case in this category has to be solved is a very common thing in an extended give the peasants and workers – as individually” (177). In Hughes’s poems, area of Spain not to pronounce the -d- in were most Negroes, too – a chance the pattern of incorrectness is basically between vowels for these kind of endings at schools and the learning of phonetic and is constant throughout the in oral speech; therefore, the sound grammar. (379) poem, e.g. (present participle endings produced ends up being /ao/. Usually, – ing or in’) doin’, fightin’, sayin’, feelin.’ skipping the /d/ sound in the –ado Cary Nelson’s essay, “On ‘Letter from form is more common than in the –ido Spain,’” suggests that Hughes was actu- The translator has decisions to make one, which is only done in certain areas ally making a political point when he when translating a text. The process of the country. In addition, Hughes used a “rather mild form of dialect: that of translation always involves certain creates elision between a word ending the common sense of oppressed people text losses, changes, substitutions, in a consonant and another beginning gives them an appropriate experiential additions, and compensations. When with a vowel sound, i.e., “want ‘em”; also, basis for understanding international the original text is written in a certain “wonderful’ll happen.” I have recreated politics.” In my opinion, Hughes uses linguistic register, the translator has to this by reproducing a similar effect, i.e., his broken English and his lack of decide what type of register to use in the “ca hora lucharán por mí”, “cay esclavos.” correct grammar as a form of subver- target language in order to reproduce However, I have tried not to abuse it but sion. Nathalie Kasselis in her book, The the same effect as in the source text. rather use it as an example of a writing Game(s) of Love and Language in Antón There is not one right way to do it. style, following Langston Hughes’s ideal. de Montoro, Rodrigo de Cota y Fernando Translators see this act of decision de Rojas, elaborates on the importance making as an individual act, for which My Spanish version does not target an of the manipulation of language as a one takes in consideration the source ethnic group like his, but to some extend, means of expression, and she comments: text and its effects on the reader. Ivan it does target a wide group of people “language . . . becomes a means of self Elagin suggests that special cases need who, during those years of civil war and reflection.” In Hughes’ poems, language individual solutions. He adds: “I was early post-war, did not have a chance to and its use play a very important role in very much tempted at first to translate finish school. Spaniards who saw their creating its context. He is inviting the all the peculiarities of the Negro childhood and teen years interrupted and reader to participate in his denunciation speech by means of Russian peasant their futures limited. Some years ago, I of a situation, and he does so through idioms. I have managed to resist this taught in a school for Adult Education the manipulation of its vehicle of expres- temptation, realizing that it would be in Spain. This school was part of an old sion. Language in this case allows him . . . incongruous to represent nineteenth campaign to abolish illiteracy in the to emphasize his message through its century black slaves conversing in Nijnii country. The group of men and, mostly, deconstruction.3 Hughes’s approach to Novgorod accents…” (184). women I worked with read and wrote language runs parallel to his theme, both Spanish with great difficulty, even in the of which reflect upon each other. On the other hand, he also realizes best cases. I think that Hughes would that the method of rendering African- have liked to share his own experience In an essay entitled “Certain Difficul- American speech by asking the characters of Spain with them. I always keep ties in Translating Poetry,” Ivan Elagin to speak with as many grammatical these students’ class work in mind and, comments on some of the difficulties he mistakes as it is possible to fit into a therefore, I tried to use some of their most had when translating African-Ameri- sentence is unsuccessful “because, for common misspellings and other errors in can linguistic expressions into Russian. one thing, the distinctive quality of my translation of these poems. From the very beginning he confesses, “I Negro speech lies on the pronunciation was killed during an attempt to translate rather than in the grammar” (184). On the other hand, when I was search- Negro dialect into Russian.” ing for information on Hughes’ “Letter

Prism Spring 2004 10 from Spain,” I encountered two different This pun plays with the idea of a “solid to be creative in his or her choice. In versions of the poem. One in his mem- base” for Africa at the same time as it one regard, the writer conveys Langston oirs, I Wonder as I Wander, published mispronounces the word “cimientos.” Hughes’s opinion: “The African is born a in 1956, and the other in Rampersad’s poet and is quick to improvise a song: he Collected Works of Langston Hughes, 1984. Léon-Gontran Damas, in his essay “On does not write for the benefit of scholars There are some differences between the the Poetry of Négritude,” expresses his but in order to be understood by his two versions that in my opinion may af- sharp opinion on the work of the trans- people. This explains the puns, the plays fect the tone of the poem. One of them lator. He comments: “For what is trans- on words, the humor, and the simplicity” is located in the forth line of the fifth lating if not carrying over the meaning (166). stanza. The first edition reads “And seen and context of a work from one language foundations shakin’.” In Rampersad’s to another, without the claim of making Langston Hughes explains that he we read: “And seed foundations shakin’.” it a literary creation of the translator, as wrote “Letter from Spain” because he Cary Nelson in his essay elaborates on if his own language contained the sum of wanted to express “the feelings of some the pun and play in words of the image all wisdom?” (165). of the Negro men fighting.” Johnny is that is being represented on this latest the fictitious sender of both Letter and version. My translation of this specific He adds to his opinions, “Words have Postcard, and he says goodbye in the word – based on Rampersad’s version a power over the mind not unlike the fashion leftist fighters did in Spanish, – tries to reproduce a similar lack of cor- power of music,” leaving to the translator saying “Salud,” a password to solidarity rectness by using the word “cementos” the responsibility of being loyal to the and to freedom. (cement) instead of “cimientos” (base). source text but also asking him or her

Notes

1. Authors such as Antonio Machado, Unamuno, Elagin, Ivan. “Certain Difficulties in Translating Poetry.” In Pío Baroja, etc. The World of Translation: Papers Delivered at the Con- ference on Literary Translation Held in New York City 2. !Ay, Carmela! Film version of the play, directed by Carlos in May 1970 under the Auspices of P.E.N. American Saura (1990). Center, 175-85. New York: American Center of P.E.N., 1971. 3. A concept elaborated by Jacques Derrida in L´Écriture et la Hughes, Langston. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. différence (1967) and other works, cited by Nathalie Edited by Arnold Rampersad. Vol. 1, The Poems: Kasselis in her book The Game(s) of Love and Language in 1921-1940. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, Antón de Montoro, Rodrigo de Cota, and Fernando de Rojas. 1984. ______. I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Jour- Works Cited ney. New York: Hill and Wang, 1956. Kasselis, Nathalie. The Game(s) of Love and Language in Antón Carr, Raymond. España 1808-1939. Translated by Capella, de Montoro, Rodrigo de Cota, and Fernando de Rojas. Garzolini and Ostberg. Barcelona: Ed. Ariel, 1969. PhD diss., Michigan State University, 2000. Originally published as Spain, 1808-1939 (London: Nelson, Cary. “On ‘Letter from Spain.’” Web page title: Mod- Oxford University Press, 1966). ern American Poetry (1999). http://www.english.uiuc/ Damas, Léon-Gontran. “On the Poetry of Négritude.” In The maps/poets/g_1/hughes/spain.htm (accessed October World of Translation: Papers Delivered at the Confer- 23, 2003). ence on Literary Translation Held in New York City Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes. Vol. 1, in May 1970 under the Auspices of P.E.N. American 1902-1941. New York: Oxford Univerity Press, 1986. Center, 161-66. New York: American Center of P.E.N., 1971.

Prism Spring 2004 11 Agreeable Meals – Hard to Digest: On a Poem by August Wilhelm Schlegel

Christine Newcomb

ugust Wilhelm Schlegel is known Afor having propagated the Ro- Gegenseitige Bewirthung Agreeable Meals – Hard to Digest mantic theory of literature. However, August Wilhelm Schlegel August Wilhelm Schlegel several volumes of poetry are testimony to his real passion but have been rarely included in the canon of poetry. The Erst brachte seinem Schiller Goethe First brought Goethe to his Schiller following poem gives a glimpse into his Das derb materiell Concrete: All that’s rough and sturdy – what a chiller: works of poetic creativity. Das sollt’ ihm stärken Leib und Seele; Supposed to strengthen his body and soul; Doch würgt es hart ihn in der Kehle, It firmly stuck in his throat – whole, A collection of poetic jests and jokes, Was Niemand leichtlich wohl vermeidet, Which no one can really avoid, Auf Veranlaßung des Briefwechsels Wenn er die Krebs’ in Viertel schneidet. When crabs in quarters are enjoyed. zwischen Goethe und Schiller [Upon the Correspondence between Goethe and Dann brachte Schiller das Abstracte, Then Schiller came in with the abstract, Schiller], was published in 1830 by Au- Auch das Verzwickte, das Vertrakte. All so complicated, odd and wisecracked. gust Wilhelm Schlegel in response to the Da schnitt nun Goethe viel Grimassen: And Goethe made grimaces and a wry face: publicized letters of Goethe and Schiller Doch wußt’ er sich ein Herz zu faßen. But knew how to take heart with much grace. and their relationship to Schlegel. Konnt’ es dem Gaumen nicht behagen, Though it did not delight his palate, Verdaut’ er’s doch mit tapferm Magen. He digests it bravely in his stomach. August Wilhelm Schlegel lampooned Schiller in response to the published So lebten sie, in solchem Handel, So they lived with such dealings long range, letters in a series of comical poems. Auf Friedlich beisammen ohne Wandel: Harmoniously together without change: Veranlaßung des Briefwechsels zwischen Nie sah man zu der Welt Gedeihen Never before one saw for better or worse Goethe und Schiller includes a collection Sich edle Geister so casteien. Noble minds so strangely adverse. of ten poems of various lengths, dif- Laß, Publicum, dich’s nicht verdrießen! Be not discouraged, dear audience! [1] ferent rhyming patterns and each with Du mußt die Qual nun mitgenießen . Just suffer along – with joy intense. a number and an individual title. The humor in these poems is biting, throwing – Translated by Christine Newcomb sharp arrows at their prey. These poems, or a selection of them, wittily depict the philosophical beliefs and personal attitudes of the two famous German Schiller’s and Goethe’s ideas and ideals. next couplet. These fragile boundaries authors, Goethe and Schiller. between each couplet amplify Schlegel’s The rhyming structure and patterns of humorous presentation. The same or The second poem of this collection, the poem get lost at times in the English similar sounding rhymes occurring in Gegenseitige Bewirtung [Eating together], translation. Therefore my discussion of sequence add to the comic effect of the jokes about Schiller and Goethe’s poeti- Schlegel’s poem is based upon the Ger- subject. cal repast as intellectual conversation- man original. alists and Epicureans or gourmands. Goethe and his philosophy are intro- Schlegel mockingly mixed hard-to-eat The poem’s six-line stanza organi- duced in the first two verses. His beliefs food with intellectual theories that even- zation corresponds to the thematic are rooted in the concrete, the nature, tually have to be digested by the readers. structure, and the rhyming pattern of the or the law of nature that is represented Comparing the two authors, Goethe and couplets to its ironic and even satirical in the organic unity of the work of art Schiller, and their disparate philosophies, nature, which are “relying on comical growing out of a logical and inner order: he also contrasted their physical health double (or “feminine”) rhymes” ac- “Erst brachte seinem Schiller Goethe/Das and mocked the relationship of their cording to Paul Fussell[2]. Each of the derb matriell Concrete.” The concrete, two dissimilar personalities. Schlegel’s epigrammatic couplets presents dis- pragmatic, and empirical thoughts humor changes from irony to satire, tinctly a separate thought or a jest that is should strengthen Schiller’s body and directed at the antagonism between loosely, yet masterfully connected to the soul, “Das soll ihm stärken Leib und

Prism Spring 2004 12 Seele,” but Schiller cannot easily swallow Goethe crabbed and crusty food, equally überpersönlichen Sendung.”[3] Jokingly, it: “ Doch würgt’ es hart ihn in der Ke- difficult to swallow or understand. Schlegel interspersed the comment that hle.” The last couplet of the first stanza Goethe only makes a few grimaces, but never before in the progress of the world presents the images of food that have takes heart and swallows and digests had such a relationship existed, never to be cut into small bites to be edible the food despite its disagreeable taste before had such noble spirits restrained and digestible. Schiller tried to eat the “Da schnitt nun Goethe viel Grimassen: and chastised themselves in such a way, hard-shelled food, dividing the crab into /Doch wußt’ er sich ein Herz zu faßen.” “Nie sah man zu der Welt Gedeihen/Sich fourths, but the big morsels are becom- Grimace can indicate a strange or fierce edle Geister so casteien.” ing stuck in his throat: “Was Niemand face, a smirk, or a mask, that hides the leichtlich wohl vermeidet,/Wenn er die true face and feelings. Schlegel used the In the last couplet Schlegel included Krebs’ in Viertel schneidet.” Schiller phrase “viele Grimassen,” many grimaces and played with the readers, inviting worked hard at Goethe’s meal, imply- to play on the different meanings of them to share his joke. Furthermore, he ing that he appreciated Goethe’s ideas the word. He might have hinted at an persuaded them to rejoice in the agony without being completely influenced by earlier observation, which he expressed of reading about Goethe and Schiller’s them. The crab, tough and hard-shelled in a letter to Tieck, that Goethe did not awkward relationship and their cor- and difficult to eat is another allegorical express openly his dislike for people as respondence: “Laß, Publicum, dich’s expression for a difficult idea that is not Schiller did, and was either more open to nicht verdrießen!/Du mußt die Qual nun easily absorbed or digested. Goethe’s new and different ideas and opinions, or mitgenießen.” Comically and with irony, ideas about art correspond with the was able to hide his true feelings better; the poet encourages his audience not to universal law of nature that is based “Konnt’ es dem Gaumen nicht behagen,/ despair, and gives advice how to enjoy on an eternal rhythm of becoming and Verdaut’ er’s doch mit tapferm Magen.” this feast, literally and physically, the changing. Every little entity is part of the amusements and pleasantry of Goethe great universe, the whole that represents The third stanza concludes the poem, and Schiller. harmony. Mankind and art are part of bringing both authors together. Goethe this harmonious whole. Schiller’s phi- and Schiller lived peacefully together losophy, however, was deeply rooted in without any intentions of changing their Notes speculative ideas and the ideal. relationship or changing themselves: “So lebten sie, in solchem Handel,/Friedlich 1. August Wilhelm Schlegel, August In the second stanza some of Schiller’s beisammen ohne Wandel.” Goethe’s Wilhelm von Schlegel’s Poetische literary theories are depicted. Schiller, writing and life represented a worldly Werke, vol. 2, ed. Eduard Böcking in contrast to Goethe, dealt with the harmony that developed and organically (Leipzig: Weidmannsche abstract, the complicated and intricate, grew from an eternal order that depend- Buchhandlung, 1846), 204. and served Goethe as well – something ed on a natural law. Schiller struggled in hard to stomach, the crabbed: “Dann his works between reality and the ideal of 2. Paul Fussell, Jr., Poetic Meter and brachte Schiller das Abstracte,/Auch unity and harmony. His poetic process Poetic Form (New York: Random das Verzwickte, das Vertrakte.” Schlegel was built upon an ideal of an idea that House, 1965), 137. played with the sound and the meanings was supported by the highest morals of the words “Krebs” and “Verzwickte,” and metaphysical values. Fritz Martini 3. Fritz Martini, Deutsche implying something hard and crusty, wrote in Deutsche Literaturgeschichte: Literaturgeschichte, (Stuttgart: Alfred pinching and even tormenting, physically “Goethe führte Schiller zur Wirklichkeit, Kröner Verlag, 1977), 256. or mentally. While Schiller had difficulty zur Welt, zur Dichtung; Schiller führte eating Goethe’s crab, he likewise served Goethe zum geistigen Bewußtsein seiner

Prism Spring 2004 13 Articles

Translating Humorous Poetry: Re-Inventing Tim Burton’s Gloomy Shop of Horrors

Carmen Fernández Martín

his short book is a collection of When translating poetry, the translator original intended. During that honey Tpoems in which the miserable lives is trying to re-create the original to moon: “…while he (the father) savored of weird creatures are depicted. Written achieve the same aesthetic response that the broth,/ her bride’s (the mother) heart by Tim Burton, the twenty-three poems the original produced in its readers. In made a wish”; the connection between reflect his oneiric world, where the secret this respect form plays a vital role, and the the husband’s gluttony and his wife’s passions of adults engender “freakish” never-ending debate about a free versus desire to have a baby is clearly seen. In children. Most of the Website reviews a literal or loyal translation is once more the translation there is no mentioning agree that the poems pay homage attested. In this book the translator tries of the husband savouring the stew, so to Edward Gorey (Kidney, 3pr.), as to focus on the form rather than the sense the last line of the stanza stands alone: well as following the tradition of the following Reiss’ functional approach. “La novia pidió un deseo” (39). The Book of Nonsense[1]. Burton creates a According to Reiss each text could be father’s lust towards seafood is a dark nonsensical reality that oozes with both categorized depending on the main premonition absent in the TT. macabre and tender elements. function it has (108-9). Such a function Other omissions simply miss the will determine the type of translation. point. In the same poem, when the wife The book was published in 1997 and She points out that, for example, it is recriminates her husband for not fulfilling translated in 1999 by Anagrama. This more important to keep a metaphor his marital duties, – the illustration shows Spanish edition includes an appendix when translating an expressive text than them in bed – he tried so many remedies: with the original poems in English. when the text has an informative function “that turned everything red” (48), with a Círculo de Lectores, a Spanish book club, (69[3]). Thus, the rhyme, the style, the clear allusion to his penis. In the TT the has also published the book in a bilingual metaphors, the idiomatic expressions translator specifies that his body was red, edition. Whereas, Burton combines his should come to the foreground in La so the “double entendré” is not kept. drawings and the lines of each poem melacólica muerte de Chico Ostra. This to form a well-knit story, the layout of TT is, indeed, form-focused, but the As regards black humour most of the the edition by Círculo is very different. translator should not elude the original ST’s images are more tenebrous than the Instead of having the illustrations match author and his perspective. Tim Burton is corresponding ones in the target text. At the verses, the translation of each poem well-known for his murky characters that the end of TMDOB, Burton portrays a mingles with the original poem and with spring from his troubled childhood. His merciless father: “With the shell to his the illustrations, which results in a loss films have revealed Burton’s dark world, lips/Sam slipped down his throat” (53). of cohesion between the images and the yet, humour and tenderness ease the However, in the TT “Sam” is replaced by writing. One of the main disadvantages reader. Black humour and delicateness the term “valva” (valve): “Y en su boca when publishing a bilingual book is that are present all throughout the book and ya la valva/se escurrió por la garganta,” the translator is exposed to criticisms. should be felt in the TT. turning the little oyster child into a For those non-native speakers who know non human being, a mollusk. Burton’s the language well, they can both enjoy The TT abounds in omissions macabre universe is darkly envisaged in the source text (ST), and furthermore which are obligatory to produce a verses like: “The final gasp of his short take advantage of the opportunity to communicative text and which do not life/was sickly with despair” in which we analyse the target text (TT) with a sharp vary the original sense. For example, in sadly witness the death of Toxic Boy. eye. As one reader’s opinion found on the poem that gives its title to the book However, the Spanish TT has not kept the Web asserts: “[…] Burton consigue – The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy the original sense, it is more humorous, un equilibrio perfecto entre texto e (TMDOB) – Oyster boy’s parents are almost like a caricature: “Tieso y duro, sí, ilustración, que lamentablemente el on their honey moon: “Their nine-day- muy duro.” T he TT reader must look at the castizo traductor ignora: en su esfuerzo long honey moon” and the translation drawing to see Toxic Boy’s horrible end. por conservar la rima no sólo inserta simply says “su larga luna de miel” (39) términos como churumbel, y nombres with no reference to the number of Indeed, the Spanish version displays a como Paquito Serra, sino que trastoca a days. Here, the translator implies that more comical mood. In the brief poem menudo el sentido del texto” (Blanco). nine days is a long time and so it is not The Pin Cushion Queen, the source This reader concludes that the Spanish necessary to state the number. However, reader feels sorry for the character: “Life publishers, out of a sense of guilt, there are other omissions which produce isn’t easy…/When she sits on her throne/ included the text in English[2]. a different effect than that which the pins push through her spleen” (101);

Prism Spring 2004 14 whereas the TT is clearly mocking: “ay, César which has assonant rhyme with “Paco” – unquestionably, and again, adds la vida es un coñazo./Siempre que quiere “almeja.” We could, also, introduce the a comical tone not present in the ST. poner sobre su trono el trasero.” Another proper Spanish name “Óscar” which example is in Stick Boy’s Festive Season: sounds somewhat similar to “ostra”, Some translation theorists advocate for “Stick Boy noticed that his Christmas it reinforces this connection and also the translator’s active role: “[…] queda tree looked healthier than he did (pg 81). there is an added link to the title: La atrás la sumisión al TO, la transparen- The TT personifies the tree employing melancólica muerte de Chico Ostra. In cia del discurso, la invisibilidad en los the humorous term “churumbel”[4] the poem Sue the protagonist is a girl textos traducidos. Ha llegado la hora de which adds new sense to the TT. “who likes/to sniff lots of glue” and so conceder ciertas libertades al traductor, “To avoid a lawsuit,/we’ll just call her Sue de dejar oír su voz y permitirle aplicar las Although the TT in general, does (105). Again, the rhyme establishes a estrategias y adaptaciones que considere transmit the author’s unreal world; it strong link between “lawsuit” and “Sue,” oportunas, muchas veces inevitables y fails to convey that gloomy frame tinted but more important between “Sue” and necesarias” (Pascua Febles 44). We may with black humour and sprinkled with “glue.” In the TT the link is between the wonder if that means being visible to the tender images. For De Cabo Pérez: “El word “demanda” and the proper name TT recipients or to manipulate the ST. texto traducido ha de evocar las mismas “Amanda” without any reference to her We can identify in some of the TT poems imágenes y pensamientos que el texto addiction: “pegamento.” Being almost a negative attitude towards women, original. El efecto del poema traducido impossible to find a name rhyming with not identifiable in the ST. In TMDOB en el lector meta ha de ser equivalente a both words, it would be preferable to Oyster Boy’s mother says: “I do not like aquel que el texto origen ha producido maintain the link between “glue” and to say this, but it must be said”; whereas en el lector origen” (117). “Sue.” A name that rhymes is María in Spanish: “Y aunque dicen que una Sacramento; or the word “pegamento” dama debe callarse estas cosas” (49), Translating proper names has always could be exchanged to “cola” and we the translator has employed a not very been an open and controversial debate. could pick the name “Manola.” The politically correct line absent in the ST. Theo Hermans distinguishes between cultural association, perhaps, is not so In Anchor Boy, the girl “who came from “conventional names,” i.e., those that lack evident for the surname “Smith” in Robot the sea” fell in love: “He was the one a semantic load and “loaded names,” which Boy. Mr and Mrs Smith have a baby who that she wanted the most./And she tried refer to proper names. The latter: “are is a robot. The word Smith, apart from everything to capture this ghost;” the TT somehow “motivated;” they range from being a very common name in English, portrays a womanizer: “Porque él y solo faintly “suggestive” to overtly “expressive makes reference to a profession: “a person él le había quitado la calma./Y por eso names” around which historical or cultural who works in metal”[6]. In the TT the ella quería robarle el alma” (113). This associations have accrued in the context of name selected is quite unusual: “señores manipulation in the TT functions in a a particular culture” (13)[5]. Bastida;” so the translator has to specify converse manner in Desperdicia – Junk that they were a common couple: “Eran Girl. The garbage man is described as a Some of the proper names that Tim demon who brings on the protagonist’s Burton has given to his characters are gente común los señores de Bastida.” In English the name conveys that suicide: “Él amaba su rareza/y le ofreció “loaded”. Two clear examples are in matrimonio./Ella vio en él al demonio/y TMDOB and in Sue. In the first one, information for the ST reader. As regards the reference to the old craft, it is lost. If se lanzó de cabeza/…/al molino de Oyster Boy is called Sam to produce a basura. In the ST there is no demon, he phonetic similitude with clam: “Not we want to emphasise that link we could have opted for “Los señores de Hierro.” “made a marriage proposal,/but she’d knowing what to name him,/they just already thrown herself/down a garbage call him Sam,/or, sometimes,/“that thing disposal” (99). that looks like a clam.” In addition to The rest of the proper names are not the obvious rhyme the writer has picked loaded; they just serve the purpose of The transfer of metaphors and idiomatic a name very similar to the term “clam” the rhyme, like “Roy” the “Toxic Boy” expressions also fails at times: “but to reinforce the idea that the protagonist (Roy, the Toxic Boy), Max in the TT, something smells fishy” renders literally was half human, half a sea-creature. In to rhyme with the word “demás” (71), “Cariño huele a pescado” (TMDOB, 48). the TT, Sam becomes Carlo to keep the or “Stan” “the garbage man” (in Junk Yet, the TT solves the problem, in general, rhyme: “No sabían como llamarlo./A Girl) – which is omitted in the TT (98). quite efficiently: “A nice Chardonnay” is veces le decían Carlo…/“eso que parece Particular interesting is the change from substituted by “un tinto de la Rioja” (Brie una almeja”(45), with no link between Walker “who played in a band”(113) in Boy, 83). Nevertheless, where the TT falls the name and the word “almeja.” Spanish, (Anchor Baby), to Paquito Serra in the short is in recreating Burton’s nonsensical not being so onomatopoeic, finds it TT. The last name “Serra” rhymes with universe where the tragic endeavours of difficult to keep these plays on words. A “Por el se iría a la tierra,” but choosing the characters are depicted with a sensitive possibility could be to employ the name the diminutive name “Paquito” – from brush.

Prism Spring 2004 15 Notes Works cited

1. The illustrator Edward Lear (1812- Blanco, Fabio. “Melancólico.” http: burtonoysterboy.html (accessed 1888), making use of medieval riddles //herreros. com. ar/ melanco/ January 8, 2004). and nursery rhymes, inaugurated a tburton.htm#3 (accessed Janu- Pascua Febles, Isabel. “Alicia en el país de new period in children’s literature ary 8, 2004). las traducciones: Creatividad/ in the Book of Nonsense, described as De Cabo Pérez, Gemma. “La traduc- literalidad. Dos casos extremos “surrealistically absurd narrative ción poética: una propuesta pero reales.” In La traducción, poems” with “a note of unease, didáctica.” In La traducción, estrategias profesionales, edited almost panic” and whose “black-and estrategias profesionales, edited by Isabel Pascua Febles, 41-54. white drawings often display adults as by Isabel Pascua Febles, 111-19. Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: amusing eccentrics rather than figures Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: S.P.U. de Las Palmas de Gran to be respected.” “There was an S.P.U. de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 2001. old lady of Chertsey,/Who made a Canaria, 2001. Reiss, Katharina. “Text Types, remarkable curtsey;/She twirled round Díaz Cintas, Jorge. Teoría y práctica de Translations Types and and round,/Till she sank la subtitulación inglés-español. Translation Assessment.” underground…” (Hunt 94-95). Barcelona: Ariel Cine, 2003. 1977. In Readings in 2. For this article we are using the Fernández Martín, Carmen. “¿Señor Translation Theory, edited by A. edition by Círculo. Wormwood o señor Gusáñez?: Chesterman, 105-15. Helsinki: 3. Jeremy Munday, Introducing La traducción de los nombres Finn Lectura, 1989. Translation Studies: Theories and propios en Dahl.” CLIJ 101 Rodríguez Espinosa, Marcos. Applications (London: Routledge, (1998):13-17. “Subtitulado y doblaje como 2001), 75. Hunt, Peter, ed. Children’s Literature, an procesos de domesticación 4. In Gipsy it means a young boy and in Illustrated History. New York: cultural.” In La traducción para Spanish it has humoristic Oxford University Press, 1995. el doblaje y la subtitulación, connotations. Kidney, David. Tim Buton, The edited by Miguel Duro, 103-17. 5. The quotation is taken from Melancholy Death of Oyster Madrid: Cátedra, 2001. Rodríguez Espinosa 104-5. Boy & Other Stories (William Tyrangiel, Josh. “Big Fish in His Own 6. The Penguin English Dictionary, Marrow, 1997).” http// Pond.” Time (December 1, 2nd ed. (London: Penguin, www.greenmanreview.com/ 2003): 88-90. 2003), 1321. book/book/_

Does the English-Speaking World Need Yet Another Translation of Don Quixote?

María Luisa R. Lacabe

f it comes from the pen of Edith Gross- Rides Again” considers Grossman’s Grossman’s new English version as “su- Iman, the answer is certainly in the translation “great.” He asserts that perb” and “the most agreeable Don Quix- affirmative. Her new and excellent trans- “there is not a single moment in which, ote ever.” Castle finds that she not only lation of Cervantes’ masterpiece has elic- in forthright English, we are not read- succeeds in convincing the reader of the ited well-deserved praise from prestigious ing a 17th-century novel. This is truly extraordinary quality of the novel, but critics, among them Carlos Fuentes, Terry masterly: the contemporaneous and the exudes such enthusiasm that it is conta- Castle, James Wood, and Richard Eder. original co-exist. [...] To make the classic gious. She compares her first reading of All these critics corroborate the excellence contemporary: this is the achievement.” Don Quixote in her early teens with her of her work and then, instead of offering For Carlos Fuentes “the quality of her second reading now “at the age of almost examples of the merits of the translation, translation is evident in the opening fifty.” Based on this experience, she tells immerse themselves in the vicissitudes, line” which he quotes; yet, the rest of the her reader: “[G]et hold of Don Quixote perspectives, and interpretation of the three-page article is dedicated to Cer- and make time for it. It will be worth the novel. The magnetic attraction is such vantes’ masterpiece. television sitcoms you skip, the thirty or that, not only they, but all of us, are help- so quiet evenings you spend on it. Edith less to resist its alluring power. Terry Castle, in her excellent article, Grossman actually makes it easy for you, Carlos Fuentes in “The Errant Knight “High Plains Drifter,” defines Edith O frazzled reader.” Like Fuentes, Terry

Prism Spring 2004 16 Castle dedicates the rest of her six-page from a New Vantage,” defines Grossman’s version so like the original that I kept article commenting on the greatness of translation “as the most transparent forgetting I was reading in English. I was Don Quixote. and least impeded among more than a absorbed by the work and thus it became dozen English translations going back very difficult to separate the translation James Wood, in an excellent article to the 17th century.” Eder admits that from the original. Ironically, it was her entitled “Knight’s Gambit: The Sacred “[o]nce in a while there are odd choices excellence that prevented me, and per- Profanity of Don Quixote,” describes the and, in the translation’s 940 pages, some haps the critics, from creating the neces- new translation by Edith Grossman as occasional flagging,” but he fails to give sary distance to comment objectively on “marvelous.” He emphasizes how her us any examples of those. Neverthe- the merits of her translation. “English sensitively captures these sifting less, he concludes that “what she renders registers, as we move from the Knight’s splendidly is the book’s very heart.” Like ornate, sometimes pompous diction, via the other critics, Richard Eder dedicates the narrator’s fluent and funny recount- the rest of his two-page article to praise Works Cited ing, to Sancho Panza and his muddier the greatness of Don Quixote. music.” According to Wood, there are Castle, Terry. “High Plains Drifter.” At- at present two other “excellent” transla- There is no doubt about the excellence lantic Monthly (January-Febru- tions of Don Quixote: “All are scholarly of Grossman’s translation. She is superb, ary 2004): 185-91. and elegant; in some places they are excellent, transparent, great and yes, she Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote. almost indistinguishable. But Grossman, captures the book’s heart. In fact, she Translated by Edith Grossman. who has translated García Márquez and captures our hearts and we get immersed New York: Harper Collins, 2003. Vargas Llosa, has produced the most in the greatness of the masterpiece. If Eder, Richard. “Beholding Windmills distinguished, and the most literary, the lack of examples or comparison with and Wisdom From a New Van- of them, and those qualities are amply other translations to demonstrate the tage.” New York Times, Novem- displayed on every page.” After this high merits of Edith Grossman’s new Eng- ber 14, 2003. praise for Grossman’s work, James Wood lish version puzzled me when I read the Fuentes, Carlos. “Don Quixote: The Er- dedicates the rest of his five-page article above articles, now that I have read her rant Knight Rides Again.” New to interpreting and analyzing Cervantes’ work I agree with the critics. York Times, November 2, 2003. masterpiece. When I wrote this article my inten- Wood, James. “Knight’s Gambit.” New tion was to offer examples of her work Yorker (December 22-29, 2003): Finally, Richard Eder, in a piece enti- that would demonstrate her mastery at 149-56. tled “Beholding Windmills and Wisdom translation; however, I found her English

Briefly Noted

Star in My Forehead: Selected Poems by Else Lasker-Schüler. Translated by Janine Canan. Duluth, Minnesota: Holy Cow! Press, 2000. 121pp. $12.95.

Reviewed by Janet Besserer Holmgren.

n Star in My Forehead translator Lasker-Schüler’s poetry. The result is sections that correspond chronologically IJanine Canan offers Anglophones the sovereign translations that capture the to the poet’s life, Canan aims to provide opportunity to acquaint themselves with poetic magic of the original text and a linear but by no means all-encompass- the lyrical legacy of one of Germany’s leave one with the desire to read more. ing overview of Lasker-Schüler’s poetic finest poets, Else Lasker-Schüler (1869- oeuvre. The first chapter, “Songs of 1945). Canan first encountered the In her book Canan presents forty- the Blessed (1884-1911),” contains her German-Jewish avant-garde writer some three poems that span the life of Lasker- rendition of Lasker-Schüler’s most well thirty years ago and has been magnetized Schüler, who was a leading figure in the known and widely translated poem, “Ein by her work ever since. Over the years pre-war German cultural scene. By di- alter Tibetteppich” or “An Old Tibetan Canan has gained special insight into viding her book of translation into four Carpet.” Here Canan’s unique skill as a

Prism Spring 2004 17 translator becomes clear, as she remains attitude toward poetic translation and writer’s life. Throughout the entire book faithful to the original while simulta- the life and times of Lasker-Schüler. For the German text on the left is paralleled neously capturing the profound grace example, the “Translator’s Note” helps with its English counterpart on the right of Lasker-Schüler’s work. This skill is explain how Canan has been able to for those interested in reading both ver- evident in the ensuing translations in preserve the true art of Lasker-Schüler’s sions. Moreover the inclusion of both the final three chapters of the book as poetry: “Kaleidoscopically shifting over languages allows readers to contemplate well. The three chapters entitled “He- the years, like flowers unfolding, my the craft of literary translation and come brew Ballads (1905-1920),” “Our Love translations were endlessly revised. In to appreciate Canan’s talent. Song (1913-1923),” and “My Blue Piano the early years they were scrupulously (1932-1945)” contain a fine blend of well literal. Later on, as my relationship to Overall Canan’s innate connection and translated poems most of which are less the poet deepened and I traveled further ongoing relationship to Lasker-Schüler well known. into her visionary landscape, occasional has yielded lucidly flowing yet remark- liberties were taken in the service of ably accurate translations. Star in My Canan prefaces her book with a conveying her meaning and music” Forehead: Selected Poems by Else Lasker- “Translator’s Note” and “Introduction.” (xii). Similarly, the “Introduction” helps Schüler provides much reading pleasure Both provide much insight into her illuminate significant aspects of the and is to be recommended.

Interview

"Equal to Writing": An Interview with Zafer Senocakç on Literary Translation

n April 3, 2003, Zafer Senocakç met with the a magazine for our generation. The second thing writing because – literary translation – because you Oeditors of Shadows and Echoes to discuss liter- was, we wanted to bring in the notion of transla- have to create your own language with other texts. ary translation. çSenocak is an award-winning poet tion and multilinguism for our generation, and It’s very interesting. of Turkish descent who was raised and educated in discussion was a little poor in the 80s. The third West Germany. Born in Ankara in 1961, _enocak reason was a political one. We wanted to start a Shadows and Echoes – When you said equal, what moved to Munich with his parents when he was eight. magazine to show that Germany is not so homog- did you mean? By his late teens he was writing poetry and essays in enously German anymore. People from different German that received critical acclaim. Today _eno- countries came, their children were born there, and Zafer Senocakç – Equal in that there is a perception cak is a leading voice in the German discussions on now this second generation has started writing in that the translator is always someone who brings an transculturalism, national and cultural identity, and German or other languages. So now a group of us, other, the role of an other, to another language. So a mediator between Turkish and German culture. one writer was from Greece, three from Turkey, one it’s not this, my eyes, it’s a role. A translator’s always As a widely published poet, essayist, journalist and from France, the others were originally German (of giving his own language, or her own language to the editor, _enocak has won several prestigious literary German origin). And for us it was also a discussion text. So, it’s like taking a text to you, to yourself, to awards in Germany and his works have been trans- that we wanted to start for our own translations your own place, and transporting it from there to the lated into numerous languages including Turkish, – a way to create a place for our own work, for our common place. So you are like an actor, maybe, and English, French, and Hebrew. He is also a co-founder own translations. And it was really successful in the you have to play this role in some way. It’s an artistic of the successful multi-lingual journal of literary beginning. We had a good start, we could sell about way to deal with the text. So, like with writing… translation, Sirene. 1,500 copies, which is a lot for a magazine without a poetry is also a sort of translation. publishing house. Shadows and Echoes – Maybe I can start, first of all, Shadows and Echoes – Is there anything about the by thanking you for coming and talking to us today. We had several issues with main subjects. One was, Turkish language that makes it particularly easy or And I was wondering if you could start by speak- for example, on new East European literature. It difficult to translate into German? ing about the inception of “Sirene,” the multilingual came out, I think in 1990, when this time of change journal that you co-founded. came. Another issue was on Paris. Paris is a city Zafer Senocakç – Oh, it is always very difficult to of translators and writers coming from different translate from Turkish to any language. It’s related Zafer Senocakç – I started, actually preparations, backgrounds. So, this issue was very successful. Its in history to Persian and Arabic but is absolutely far started in 1987 and the first magazine came out in title was Écrire entre les langues or Writing between from them, so it’s this interesting thing to have this 1988. We published the magazine until 2000, so Languages. We published also some essays on cultur- relationship: Persian is an Indo-Germanic language, twelve years, and now there is another Neue Sirene, al issues, how culture is perceived and how cultural and Arabic is a Semitic language. Turkish has some a New Siren, published by one editor of our old discussions are going on. Asiatic background, with a grammar that’s more magazine. We were a group of nine. It was a large similar to Korean or Japanese, but it’s a completely group of publishers for a magazine. For one year I started the translations, actually, earlier, in the 80s, different way of thinking in language. The suffixes we had meetings every weekend to establish the idea before the magazine was started. To start a transla- add another vein to create sentences. And so it’s for the magazine, why we had to start a magazine. tion was actually for me a part of my work. And very difficult to bring Turkish texts into European The main reasons are, first of all, we wanted to start my notion is that translation is something equal to languages and also the other way around.

Prism Spring 2004 18 Shadows and Echoes – Do you try to monitor the Zafer Senocakç – No, I’ve never translated my own tion. In Europe, I think there’s always still a notion translation of your work? work. I sometimes write texts in Turkish. I never of catching something through translation, but there decide between languages – the language decides are also problematical moments, like in Germany Zafer Senocakç – No, no, only when the translators itself. I start with the language which is in my head, with Turkish. This is very interesting. have questions. I try to answer questions. Very and mostly it’s German, but sometimes there is quickly. Questions about the text. I mean, I can read something Turkish in my head also – my ideas, and Shadows and Echoes – Do you think that multicul- the English ones and the Turkish ones, a little of the how, for example, I write poetry when the first line turalism is changing its character as the world becomes French ones, but also the Turkish ones. For example, starts, and I can see, “Oh, this is Turkish now,” and more divided in terms of its communication? It seems I was not engaged in any discussions, real discus- so I write this down in Turkish. And the interesting to me there’s a more and more global character to the sions with the translator, because the translation is thing is, it’s never mixed up, it’s always separated. world, at least in the educated community, we’re more its own thing. I always separate them – it’s not like French and Eng- and more in contact. We have more and more things lish! [Laughter] available to us through telecommunications, and we Shadows and Echoes – Can I ask you about your have a sort of common culture: not the culture of one conception of translation? It seems to me – I’ve done a Shadows and Echoes – Franglais! – What about culture, but sort of a common possession. A lot of it lot of translating myself, and reading about translation translation and historical periods? At a symposium in comes from popular culture, of course, but a lot of as- – that there are two very different schools of thought Paris last summer, there was an interesting gathering pects of modern life transcend any cultural boundary. about the nature of translation. One is that – espe- of publishers, writers, translators, and academics. One And any contemporary writer participates in that to cially when it comes to poetry or literary texts – that of the people made the point that translation has a some extent. Many aspects of Salman Rushdie’s work translation is essentially impossible, and you’re doing different character in different periods. This is what participate more in the aspects of the global culture the best you can in what is really creating a new text. the person said: “The historical circumstances are of our time than in either Western culture or Indian The other view is that the actual translation is not real- important, they help by being favorable – for example culture. ly that extraordinary, that almost everything we do in in the Renaissance – or restrain the progress of transla- the way of communication has an aspect of translation tion when not favorable – for example China in the Zafer Senocakç – Yeah. You have some symbols, so to it – that even our effort to understand each other in 1930s or after 1975.” I suppose we think a lot about you can recognize them. I am very skeptical that we the same language is a sort of translation. And so the this because we’re interested in the role of international understand each other better. I think that we have a act of literary translation into another language merely things in higher education in the United States and lot of information, but there is also a huge potential increases certain problems that we face all the time in the attitude toward the rest of the world in the United for misunderstanding, because you have the surface, communicating. So you have on the one hand this no- States, which seems odd at this time to a lot of us. I but beyond the surface we are losing our capacity to tion that you’re involved in something impossible, and know for a fact that it is very difficult to publish trans- recognize the backgrounds. If we are losing that, but then on the other hand the notion that you’re involved lations from foreign languages into English because still have the surface, we are in some trouble, I think. in something which is quite ordinary, and that literary there’s a problem with the market. Publishers in the translation is just a special case. I don’t know whether United States require publications to be profitable. But Shadows and Echoes – Well, that’s true, but it can’t be you agree that there is this dichotomy. profitability is not assured for most interesting literary the same thing that happens with any single culture. texts, unless there’s a reason for celebrity that makes it I mean with counterculture and we discover we don’t Zafer Senocakç – Yeah, it’s a model. But I think that profitable. And those aren’t always the most important understand this other person at all. What we thought all communication is very difficult. It’s very close to works to translate. So, in terms of translation, it they were thinking isn’t what they were thinking at all. my own thinking and writing. I think most commu- seems to me that we’re in a – in the United States for nication is misunderstanding. We try to eliminate a variety of reasons – a rather unfavorable climate for Zafer Senocakç – How we communicate with each misunderstanding, to create an artificial understand- publishing translations. Yet we’re in a situation where other, you know, it’s very fast, it’s changing a lot, and ing playground. But it’s artificial – misunderstand- culturally we have a great need for more translation. it’s like remembering something – to see something ing is always there. is like to remember something. It’s so fast that it’s Zafer Senocakç – There is also one point, maybe it still gone if you have it. It’s a challenge for language, But I don’t know if this is a good starting point for plays a role, I don’t know. You have created in this for communication itself, and also to meet with bringing in poetry, because poetry is a little bit dif- country these hyphenated identities, like Chinese- each other. In Germany, for example, we have a lot ferent. Poetry starts just at this point of misunder- American, Korean-American, and so maybe there is of anxieties coming from old concepts of culture. standing and has an idea of enclosing, not excluding, some notion that you don’t need anything Chinese There is still something like to be German and to be this misunderstanding in language. This is also the because you have the Chinese-American. I mean, the Other. It’s not over, so it’s there, it’s something. silence of poetry. it’s a very simplistic way to say this, but it can be a It’s a little over in everyday life because there are psychological thing, the feeling that “oh yeah, the other connections, but it’s not over in the heads of With communication, what’s said is always impor- whole world is together here.” The whole post-co- the people. So, you have these contradictions in the tant, and it’s important that you trust the com- lonial thing is something like this, you know – who society all the time. munication. But in poetry, you have to trust the is really at fault over India? For example, what is silence of poetry. My own thinking has also been going on in religion? Nobody knows. But everyone Shadows and Echoes – So, poetry is a handshake, influenced, for example, by Paul Celan, who had knows Salman Rushdie. So this is India, Rushdie is from one individual to another, and the boundaries are this idea of communication through poetry. But his India. Rushdie is not India, but you know, this is the not so clear, actually. poetry, especially his late work, is very, very, difficult problem. I am not Turkey, you know, I come from to understand. He’s a poet who has an ideal of Berlin, I grew up in Germany. Well, I have a Turkish Zafer Senocakç – Yes that’s right. communication in poetry – he wrote, for example, background, but I do not represent what is going on that “poetry is a handshake” – it’s an offer to open in Turkey literally. Maybe Germans think: “Oh, we Shadows and Echoes – So you reach out and discover yourself to another and accept another into yourself, have seven or eight Turkish background writers, so – the other person is already a part of you. [Laughter] an exchange. we don’t need any great communication with Turk- Well, we could go on for hours, but time is running ish territories.” So, there is a misunderstanding like out, so that will be our final question. Thank you very Shadows and Echoes – Now you’ve translated from this going on, and this is a critique to multicultural- much! Turkish into German, but have you translated some of ism. I think this would be a great thing to discuss your German texts into Turkish? here, because it’s important for cultural communica-

Prism Spring 2004 19 RECENT HUMANITIES PUBLICATIONS

Albrecht, James M. “What’s the Use of Reading Emerson Pragmatically? The Example of William James.” Nineteenth-Century Prose 30, nos. 1/2 (Spring/Fall 2003): 388-432. CONTRIBUTORS Batten, Alicia. “God in the Letter of James: Patron or Benefactor?” New Testament Studies 50 (2004): 1-16. Barbara Temple-Thurston ______. Review of History of New Testament Research, vol. 2, From Jonathan Edwards to Rudolf Bultmann, by William Baird. 11 (2003). http://www.bookreviews.org. Dean of Humanities and Review of Biblical Literature ______. Review of James: Wisdom of James, Disciple of Jesus the Sage, by Richard Bauckham. Religious Studies Professor of English and Theology 22 (2003): 104-05. ______. Review of From Cloister to Commons. Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Religious Studies, Maria del Carmen edited by Richard Devine, Joseph A. Favazza, and F. Michael McLain. Teaching Theology and Religion Fernández Martin 6, no. 3 (2003): 113-114. Janet Holmgren ______. Review of The Significance of Parallels between 2 Peter and Other Early Christian Literature, by Mi- Mark K. Jensen chael J. Gilmour. Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 31 (2002): 432-33. Richard P. Jones Campbell, Thomas J. Review of As of This Writing: The Essential Essays, 1968-2001, by Clive James. Magill Book María Luisa R. Lacabe Reviews/Salem Press Online (September 2003). Maria Lightner-Ferrer ______. Review of Dorian: An Imitation, by Will Self. Magill Book Reviews/Salem Press Online (June 2003). Paul Manfredi ______. Review of Nothing Remains the Same: Reading and Remembering, by Wendy Lesser. Magill Book Paloma Martínez-Carbajo Reviews/Salem Press Online (March 2003). Eric Nelson ______. Review of The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family, by Mary S. Lovell. Literary Annual 2003 (June Christine Newcomb 2003): 760-765. Rochelle Snee Killen, Patricia O’Connell. “Christianity in the Western United States.” SPAN (Summer 2002): 6-7, 25, 28. Helen Williams-Ginsberg ______. “Making Thinking Real Enough to Make It Better: Using Posters to Develop Skills for Constructing Disciplinary Arguments.” Teaching Theology and Religion 5 (October 2002): 221-226. ______. “The Marginality of American Catholic History Ten Years Later.” U.S. Catholic Historian 21, no. 2 Graphic Design (Spring 2003): 107-113. nd Steve Skramstad ______. “Washington, Catholic Church in.” In New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2 . ed., vol. 14: 653-57. Detroit: (University Printing and Thomson Gale, 2002 Killen, Patricia O’Connell, and Mark Silk, eds. Publications) Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone. Lanham, MD: Alta Mira Press, 2004. Lacabe, María Luisa Ramón. “La función de la memoria en la Trilogía de la liberación.” In El poso de la nada: Prism is also on-line. Visit La obra literaria y periodística de José Luis Castillo-Puche, edited by José Belmonte Serrano and Rubén http://www.plu.edu/~prism Castillo Gallego, 265-77. Murcia: Nausícaä, 2003. Martínez-Carbajo, Paloma. “La destrucción citadina en el Madrid del silencio.” In Madrid: De Fortunata a la M-30, edited by E. Parker and Malcolm Alan Compitello, 265-81. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 2003. Oakman, Douglas E. “The Promise of Lutheran Biblical Studies.” Currents in Theology and Mission 31, no. 1 Prism, the Humanities magazine (February 2004): 40-52. at Pacific Lutheran University, Stivers, Robert, and James Martin Schram. Christian Environmental Ethics: A Case Method Approach. Orbis expresses the scholarly viewpoints Books, 2003. or deliberations of Humanities Trudinger, Peter L. The Psalms of the Tamid Service: A Liturgical Text from the Second Temple. Leiden and Bos- faculty, and occasionally others ton: Brill, 2004. by invitation, while also Yaden, Bridget. “Mental Representations of Spanish Morphology: Rules or Analogy?” In Theory, Practice, and announcing publications and th th achievements within the division. Acquisition: Papers from the 6 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium and the 5 Conference on the Acquisi- tion of Spanish and Portuguese, edited by P. Kempchinsky and C. Piñeros, 299-312. Somerville, CA: © Pacific Lutheran University Cascadilla Press, 2003.

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