Palabra Por Palabra Mot Pour Mot Wort Für Wort Word for Word Palavra Por Palavra Parola Per Parola
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
word for word parola per parola palavra por palavra wort für wort palabra por palabra mot pour mot 2018 word for word parola per parola palavra por palavra wort für wort palabra por palabra mot pour mot 3 table of contents foreword 6 word for word / parola per parola Columbia University School of the Arts Scuola Holden 9 word for word / palavra por palavra Columbia University School of the Arts Instituto Vera Cruz Formação de Escritores 109 word for word / wort für wort Columbia University School of the Arts Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig 181 word for word / palabra por palabra Columbia University School of the Arts Universidad Diego Portales 269 word for word / mot pour mot Columbia University School of the Arts Université Paris 8 417 acknowledgments 577 5 foreword Word for Word is an exchange program that was conceived in 2011 by Professor Binnie Kirshenbaum, then Chair of the Writing Program in Columbia University’s School of the Arts. The exchange was created in the belief that that when writers engage in the art of literary translation, collaborating on translations of each other’s work, the experience will broaden and enrich their linguistic imaginations. Since 2011, the Writing Program has conducted travel-based exchanges in partnership with the Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany; Scuola Holden in Turin, Italy; the Institut Ramon Llull and Universitat Pompeu FabraIDEC in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); the Columbia Global Center | Middle East in Amman, Jordan; Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.; and the University of the Arts Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland. In 2016, the Word for Word program expanded to include a collaborative translation workshop that pairs Writing Program students with partners at two of these same institutions—the Deutsches Literaturinstitut Leipzig and Scuola Holden—as well as new ones: Université Paris 8 in Paris, France; Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile; and the Instituto Vera Cruz in São Paulo, Brazil. These workshop-based partnerships offer participants the chance to expand their horizons even without travel via personal and literary exchange and collaboration, establishing a new model for cross-cultural engagement. The present volume offers selections from the works (originals and translations) written by members of the Spring 2018 Word for Word Workshop in the Columbia School of the Arts and their French-, German-, Italian, Portuguese- and Spanish-language partners in Paris, Leipzig, Turin, São Paulo, and Santiago. 6 This sixth in our series of Word for Word anthologies collects the work of twenty exceptionally talented writers, presented here in tribute to all the ways in which artistic exchange can build bridges between peoples and cultures. At a time when isolationism is on the rise worldwide, placing unusual strain on the relationships between countries, these twenty new voices—each confident, critical, and globally attuned—bear witness to the power of the written word to transcend the borders that divide us. Susan Bernofsky Director, Literary Translation at Columbia Columbia University School of the Arts / Writing 7 8 word for word / parola per parola Columbia University School of the Arts Scuola Holden 9 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs CLARENCE COO from BEAUTIFUL PROVINCE (BELLE PROVINCE) Scene 1: Mr. Green’s Farewell To His Class MR. GREEN, a 54-year-old high school French teacher in rumpled clothes, addresses his class. He stands next to a wastebasket, holding a stack of papers. He reads a name off each paper then drops the sheet into the wastebasket. MR. GREEN For Edouard -– or should I say Ed? -- Disappointing. For Madeleine –- or should I say Mei Ling? -- Dreadful. For Christophe –- or should I say Topher? -- Deficient. "D." "D." "D." The results of your exam? Deplorable. Four weeks we spend on two verbs. The result? Disaster! Two verbs! Granted, they are irregular. But that’s no excuse, for these forms -- Do. Not. Change. 10 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 1/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs tradotto dall'inglese da ANTONELLA MASSARO da BELLA PROVINCIA (BELLE PROVINCE) Scena 1: L’addio di Mr. Green alla classe MR. GREEN, insegnante di francese al liceo, cinquantaquattro anni e vestiti stropicciati, parla alla sua classe. In piedi accanto a un cestino, regge un fascio di fogli. Legge un nome da ogni foglio, poi lo butta nel cestino. MR. GREEN Edouard… o dovrei dire Ed?... Deludente. Madeleine... o dovrei dire Mei Ling?... Deprecabile. Christophe... o dovrei dire Topher?... Deficitario. "D." "D." "D." Il risultato dei vostri compiti in classe? Deplorevole. Passiamo quattro settimane su due verbi. Con quale risultato? Disastro! Due verbi! D’accordo, sono irregolari. Ma non è una scusa, perché queste forme... 11 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 2/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs They are immutable! More reliable than the people in your lives. More stable than governments. More dependable than churches or philosophies. These verbs are your deliverance! Commit the patterns to memory. Determine the person, the number, the tense. Then remember the form. That’s all there is. To conjugation. Conjugation. Such a beautiful word. Such a beautiful act. Shall we attempt the Imperfect before the final frost of winter? Consider the Conditional before swallows sail back in spring? Sally forth with the Subjunctive before our fecund and flowering females ooze out another assemblage of unexpected infants? Or are we stuck in Present Tense forever? Can you imagine? Stuck in Present Tense? Time would grind to a halt. Time would stand still! No access to the past. No road to the future. He reads more names and drops more test papers into the wastebasket. Yes, there are –- For Matthieu -- or Matt -- Difficulties. For Rémy -- or Rohit -- Dangers. 12 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 3/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs Non. Cambiano. Mai. Sono immutabili! Più affidabili dei vostri cari. Più stabili dei governi. Più credibili delle chiese e delle filosofie. Questi verbi sono la vostra salvezza! Affidate lo schema alla memoria. Determinate la persona, il numero, il tempo. Poi, ricordate il modo. Non c’è altro da fare. Per coniugare. Coniugare. Che parola stupenda. Che atto stupendo. Riusciremo a fare l’Imperfetto prima dell’ultima gelata d’Inverno? A studiare il Condizionale prima che tornino le rondini in primavera? A partire alla scoperta del Congiuntivo prima che le nostre feconde fanciulle in fiore sfornino un’altra partita di inattesi lattanti? O rimarremo per sempre inchiodati nel Presente? Ve lo immaginate? Inchiodati nel Presente? Il tempo che frena. Che rimane fermo! Nessun accesso al passato. Nessuna strada per il futuro. Legge qualche altro nome e butta altri test nel cestino. Sì, abbiamo... Mathieu... o Matt... Difficoltà. 13 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 4/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs For Brigitte -- or Britney -- Disorientation. Sometimes –- Like when I was your age: Delirium! But French. Is. Worth. It. French is contemplation. French is inspiration. French is liberation. French makes existence bearable. Perhaps you ponder how your parents persist existing here? Side by side with steel mills dead and derelict for decades? Perhaps they’ve numbed themselves cashing unemployment checks to purchase methamphetamines. But I like to believe it’s because, before closing their eyes every night, they whisper into their pillows the honeyed verses of Verlaine and Baudelaire. And all that is weighty and dark in their souls is expelled into vapor. For that’s what I do. Without French, life would be unfair! 14 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 5/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs Rémy... o Rohit... Dolori. Brigitte... o Britney... Disorientamento. A volte... Come quando avevo la vostra età: Delirio! Ma il francese. Ne. Vale. La. Pena. Il francese è contemplazione. Il francese è ispirazione. Il francese è liberazione. Il francese rende l’esistenza sopportabile. Vi siete mai chiesti perché i vostri genitori si ostinano a esistere proprio qui? Circondati da acciaierie defunte e derelitte da decenni? Forse hanno sperperato i propri sussidi di disoccupazione per comprare metanfetamine. Ma a me piace credere che sia perché ogni notte, prima di chiudere gli occhi, sussurrano al cuscino i versi d’ambrosia di Verlaine e di Baudelaire. E tutto ciò che è pesante e oscuro nelle loro anime evapora. Perché è questo ciò che faccio. 15 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 6/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs But with French, there is expectation. Anticipation. Exhilaration. Capitulation. For in the past, it was English that capitulated to French. In the year 1066, the Norman French conquered the uncouth Anglo-Saxon. And conveyed to them -- culture. In the year 1066. Because of the French, we sit at the table with refinement. Do we “eat pigs?” No, we “dine on pork.” Do we “munch on cows?” No, we “feast on beef.” Do we “chomp down cow babies?” No! We “savor veal.” But alas, the luminosity of French burned too brief over the British Isles. And England’s linguistic treasury went bankrupt. In Chaucer’s Prologue to The Canterbury Tales, the Prioress is ridiculed for speaking bastardized French: He slips into Chaucerian English. “And French she spake full faire and fetisly, After the school of Stratford-at-Bow, For French of Paris was to her unknow.” 16 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lKzFodqCQnFPdLOiuDsvpgY3pU7k9b7eyxYpvD4HjAs/e… 7/45 5/12/2019 Clarence Original Antonella Translation - Google Docs Senza il francese, la vita sarebbe ingiusta! Ma con il francese, c’è speranza. Anticipazione. Eccitazione. Capitolazione. Perché in passato, fu l’Inglese a capitolare davanti al Francese. Nell’anno 1066, i normanni conquistarono i selvaggi anglosassoni.