dumbfoundry

[...] The great problem with presenting this [international] poetry, of course, is the problem of translation. John Updike's translation of "The Enigmas" by Jorge Luis Borges — "I say I believe / Myself undeserving of Heaven or of Hell, / But make no predictions." — would seem impossible to better. In most cases, however, the reader senses painfully that some flavour is being lost.

My only suggestion is to include more than one translation of a given poem. It's like giving the reader another camera angle. Hirsch presents a translation by a poet named Jim Powell of a lyric of Sappho's, for example. He could also have included Canadian poet Anne Carson's translation of the same lyric, a translation that better conveys the fitfulness and fever of Sappho's eroticism. [...]

This entry was posted by eeksypeeksy on Monday, April 24, 2006 at 9:14 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.