Translation of Poetry

"When Ezra Pound quipped in a letter to R.P. Blackmur in 1924 that ‘one can no longer put Mt Purgatory forty miles high in the midst of Australian sheep land’, he was of course mocking the medieval cosmography of Dante’s La Divina Commedia, which locates Mount Purgatory in the Antipodes..."

A jegyzetek a fordító, Fórizs László, és a szerkesztő, Szamanéra Gambhíró megjegyzései.
Kiadta: Aruna Publications, Aruna Ratanagiri Buddhist Monastery, Harnham Hall Cottages, Harnham, Belsay, Northumberland, NE20 0HF UK
© 2012Harnham Buddhist Monastery Trust
Ez a Mű a Creative Commons Nevezd meg! – Ne add el! – Ne változtasd! 3.0 Unported Licenc feltételeinek megfelelően szabadon felhasználható. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.hu)

OS SONETOS COMPLETOS DE ANTERO DE QUENTAL
PREFÁCIO: J. P. Oliveira Martins
NOTA PRÉVIA , TRANSCRIÇÕES E POSFÁCIO: Patricio Ferrari
CAPA: João Botelho
REVISÃO: Susana Tavares Pedro
Impresso na Guide para a Guimarães em Novembro de 2010
Lisboa: Guimarães [Babel], 2010. ISBN: 978-972-665-651-7

There are a number of arguments that support the idea of translating non-fiction to be a “double challenge”, considering the time invested in research, getting all the facts, historical names and quotations right in two languages, and giving the point of view that the author originally gave. On the other hand, some of the aspects of translating prove that translating non-fiction should be easier than translating other areas of literary translation, primarily fiction. The translator of non-fiction has more space for explanations, comments and directions for his readers; he can usually keep a constant tone throughout the work and is usually asked to translate repeatedly for the same customers. And, to return to that popular misconception that literary translation only relates to works of fiction, the translation of non-fiction has an extremely long and respectable history: it is certainly literature. It is just the rarity of it today that may make it seem “stranger than fiction”.

This is a short poem by Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣabbān (d. 1206/1791) translated from the original Arabic into English verse. The poem is a concise, technical list of the ten essentials aspects of any science. It is intended to help students memorize the outline of the topic, while a teacher's additional commentary would be needed to really understand the content and meaning of the ten essentials.

12 poems from the book, Nandithayude Kavithakal, a collection of poems found in the diary of K.S. Nanditha after her death, have been translated from Malayalam to English. I have noticed that recently, the readership of this translation has increased. I would like to state that my first translation of these poems (in 2015) was one of my earliest attempts/initial forays into translation, and as such, exhibit multiple drawbacks, including a very literal style. In addition, this was done hurriedly at the request of a researcher who was working on K.S. Nanditha, and required the translated poems to be available on an urgent basis. A revised translation, with no claims of being better, has been added now. It would be an interesting comparison if the differences in style were to be studied!

A nyelvészeti fordítástudomány születésekor kutatási céljainak és módszereinek megfogalmazása kapcsán tudatosan határolta el magát az addig az irodalomtudomány területéhez tartozó műfordítás-kutatástól. A nyelvészeti fordítástudomány vizsgálata tárgyának tekint bármilyen műfajú fordított szöveget, nem pusztán a kiváló műfordítók remekműveit.Tudományos megközelítése leíró és rendszerező, nem értékel, nem ír elő, hanem nagy mennyiségű szöveget elemezve vonja le általánosító következtetéseit (Klaudy 1999). Hosszú évtizedekig nem is fordult az önálló tudományággá fejlődött fordítástudomány a szépirodalmi szövegek vizsgálata felé. Ha szó is esett a műfordításról,
ez legtöbbször nem lépett túl a műfordítók anekdotizáló probléma-centrikus beszámolóin (Mannila 1982). Ennek megváltoztatását sürgeti többek között Jose Lambert is, amikor a műfordítás területén elvégzendő komoly és leíró jellegű kutatások szükségességéről szól az eddig jellemző egyéni és anekdotikus leírások helyett, mivel a fordított irodalom jelentős mértékben alakítja a diskurzus, a kommunikáció és a kultúra dinamikáját (Lambert 1998). A fordítástudományban napjainkban sokat emlegetett kulturális fordulat hatására került ismét a kutatás homlokterébe a műfordítások vizsgálata, hiszen a szemléletváltás mellett kardoskodó kutatók (pl. Bassnet, Toury, Even-Zohar, Lefevere) az irodalmi szövegekben látták leginkább megfoghatónak a fordítási folyamat kultúrakötöttségét. André Lefevere sarkosan úgy fogalmaz, hogy a műfordítás-kutatás egyetlen gyümölcsöző iránya csak társadalomtörténeti jellegű lehet. Nem azt kell vizsgálnunk, ahogyan a szavak összekapcsolódnak a papíron, hanem arra a kérdésre kell választ keresnünk, hogy miért pont úgy kapcsolódnak össze. Fel kell tárnunk, hogy milyen társadalmi,
irodalmi és ideológiai megfontolások vezetik a fordítót közvetítő tevékenysége során (Lefevere 1992). Jelen tanulmány egy kisméretű verskorpusz elemzésével a műfordítás-kutatás ezen irányvonalába illeszkedik.

«(…) Nel presentare la mia traduzione italiana di Caleidoscopio non posso fare a meno di notare innanzitutto che lo scenario in cui si sviluppa il suo percorso conoscitivo è particolarmente consono al lettore italiano. L’ambiente fiorentino, alternato a quello spagnolo, è un bell’esempio di una perfetta compenetrazione del dato culturale e quello autobiografico nell’evento poetico, che trovano nell’esperienza del linguaggio la loro espressione.
Tuttavia in Micó non avvertiamo alcuna impostazione “culturalista”… Caleidoscopio, come suggerisce il titolo stesso, nonostante la presenza di elementi “culturali”, non nasce da una percezione erudita o estetizzante della realtà, perché la sua prospettiva conoscitiva è, in definitiva, quella dell’uomo nudo di fronte alla realtà che gli si svela nella reciproca assenza di un progetto e nell’imprevedibile esperienza della parola. Nella percezione del poeta c’è una toccante solitudine che chiede subito al lettore una qualche condivisione. E non potrebbe essere diversamente per un io lirico che da sempre segue un cammino così intimo, ma al tempo stesso così esposto, direi quasi senza riserve e senza limiti prospettici, agli elementi essenziali della natura, all’esperienza umana di ogni tempo e all’avventura della parola…»

Dalla prefazione di Pietro Taravacci

La poesia d’Anna Świrszczyńska [Anna Swir] (Varsòvia, 1909 – Cracòvia, 1984) comença essent un refinat, intel·ligent i brillant joc basat en referències culturalistes i construccions formals molt elaborades. Tanmateix, la sotragada de la Segona Guerra Mundial, viscuda a Varsòvia, reconduí la seva poètica, a través d’un llarg i complex procés essencialitzador, vers l’expressivitat nua i radicalment compromesa. Amb proses poètiques i poemes, elabora un impactant reportatge de l’experiència bèl·lica. Recorrent a la tradició folklòrica africana, s’enfronta a la solitud i al patiment humans. Reflexionant sobre el cos, el goig i la llibertat arriba a una poesia reflexiva centrada en temes com el patiment i la joia. Els qui pateixen poblaran aviat part de la seva poesia. I, entre ells, molt particularment, hi apareix la dona, emblema d’una humanitat marginada i adolorida, però també embrancada en l’encalç d’una existència lliure i plena. Passem de l’enjogassament verbal primerenc a la poesia existencialista i metafísica, sense que la segona impliqui, en absolut, bandejar l’aprenentatge tècnic  aconseguit amb la primera fase -de fet, sense l’una, no hauria arribat l’altra-.

Skrócony zapis panelu dyskusyjnego z udziałem Dominiki Cieśli-Szymańskiej, Rafała Lisowskiego i Adama Pluszki oraz Krzysztofa Fordońskiego w roli moderatora. Dyskusja odbyła się 17 marca 2016 roku na Wydziale Lingwistyki Stosowanej UW podczas konferencji „Przekład literacki dzisiaj i jutro”.
http://stl.org.pl/baza-wiedzy/sytuacja-tlumacza/praktyka-przekladu-literackiego/
Tekst debaty ukazał się w piśmie "Komunikacja Specjalistyczna" numer 12/2016.

For poets Elizabeth Bishop and Gabriela Mistral, the potential of Portuguese saudade was an answer to the crises of alienation and identity they faced as exiles. Drawing upon their poetry, correspondence, and translations of Lusophone literature, this paper examines how, by engaging with this foreign concept, both queer women poets living outside of their respective homelands engaged with their own senses of isolation and unhomeliness. Describing the potential of saudade in an endnote to the section titled "Saudade" in Tala, her third volume of poetry first published in 1938, Mistral states "I firmly believe, with Stefan George, in a future of borrowing language to language in Latin America. At least, in the case of certain words, clear achievements of the genius of each language, unshakable expressions within their range of 'true' words" (2003 p. 244). Both poets turned to this word as they were reconciling the heteronormative forces displacing them within their homelands. Ultimately, Bishop and Mistral mobilize the notion to address the traumas of displacement, loss, and sexual difference as they explore the 'truth' and nuance of the word through their writings.

These poems, composed in Somali and in English, provide a poetic reflection of the recently emerged debate on the theme of Caddaan Studies which means "White Studies". The criticism and counter-criticism contained in the debate dug so deep into life nerve of Somali Studies that over a thousand people participated. The poems, under the title "Inaugurating Caddaan Studies" were composed with a critical observation of the debate.

On October 1, 1920, the city of Santiago, Chile, came to a halt as tens of thousands stopped work and their daily activities to join the funeral procession of José Domingo Gómez Rojas, a 24 year old university student and acclaimed poet. Nicknamed "the firecracker poet" for his incendiary poems, such as "The Cry of the Renegade" Gómez Rojas was a member of the University of Chile's student federation (the FECh) which had come under repeated attack for its critiques of Chile's political system and ruling parties. Government officials accused the FECh's leaders of being advocates for the destruction of the social order, subversives who had the temerity to question national policy making, and insolent youths who did not know their place. Arrested for alleged sedition as part of a five-month-long "prosecution of subversives," Gómez Rojas joined other students and workers in Santiago's prison system. He never left. After two months in police custody, he died in Santiago's asylum, quickly to be reborn as a political martyr for students and workers alike.

This microhistory recovers the context within which Gómez Rojas's arrest, imprisonment, and death unfolded and the experiences of men he counted as friends, comrades, colleagues, mentors, and pupils. Fifty years before the much-heralded student movements of 1968, Raymond Craib shows, university students and workers were active political collaborators and radicalized political subjects. In interwar Chile, members of Chile's sizeable working class marched side-by-side with students from the FECh. At the same time, increasingly radicalized university students, as well as former students, workers, and worker-intellectuals, gathered together to talk, read, and find common cause. Members of what Craib calls a "capacious Left" they shared a wide-ranging interest in works of sociology and political theory, a penchant for poetry, and an eclectic embrace of anarchist, socialist, and communist principles and practices. They also shared the experience of repression, an experience that ultimately cost Gómez Rojas his life and marked an entire generation of political organizers and agitators, including future president Salvador Allende and poet Pablo Neruda.

With the literary movement known as Modernismo, writers from the Americas claimed a space at the vanguard of artistic developments in the Hispanic world. By adopting elements of  Symbolism and Parnassianism, they made a forceful declaration of Spanish America's cultural independence vis-à-vis Spain; they reinvigorated the poetic lexicon and retooled Spanish prosody. This review looks at a new translated anthology of Modernismo, finding that while the translations sometimes play up themes and stylistic features appealing to twenty-first century readers, they by and large present a compelling and much-needed overview of the movement for English-speaking audiences. Some aspects of the anthology, such as its treatment of gender, come as a welcome corrective.

"Oh foglia appassita del Fiume Mekong ed altre poesie"
Antologia poetica di Htilar Sitthu (U Soe Nyunt)
Libera traduzione di Htilar Sitthu, 1988 "O withered leaf from the River Mekong and other poems"  Innwa Pub. House, VII edizione.
Recensioni ed introduzione

16/03/2017

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This article aims to understand how a young person develops as a translingual writer and which discursive strategies she identifies as important in this process. Neda (pseudonym) has never learnt to write in Turkmen, which is her home language, but is developing as a confident writer in Norwegian, which is the language of the school.
Design/Methodology/Approach: Situated within a linguistic ethnographic framework, indepth interviews with the young person were conducted as part of a year-long fieldwork. One interview focused on Neda’s writing experiences in general, and the other two examined how she experienced writing selected poems. Data and Analysis: The data for this article are three in-depth interviews with Neda produced
over a month’s time, field notes taken in school across that same period, seven poems written at home, and two written in school. The analysis had a joint focus on linguistics and ethnography, identifying core themes.
Findings/Conclusions: Neda drew on translation and translingual remixing strategies when writing poetry on her own initiative to develop her voice, which indicates a strong sense of agency. In line with a translingual orientation to communication and literacy, these discursive strategies transcend individual languages and involve diverse semiotic resources in situated meaning construction. Both strategies contribute to creating a deeper understanding of the Norwegian language resources in her repertoire and to finding her voice as a transnational young person.
Originality: Few studies have offered detailed insight into how young people reflect upon their development as translingual writers in their spare time and which strategies they identify as important to do so.
Significance/Implications: The study contributes to the debate of how teachers can create a space for translingual writing by acknowledging and further developing young people’s own discursive strategies, involving their entire linguistic repertoire.

During the German Occupation of France (1940-44), Spanish poetry translated in French thrived (since Spain was tacitly an ally to the Nazi regime, its literature was not then concerned by censorship), in particular F. García Lorca’s works. We will question the reasons of Lorca’s prominence during the Occupation and investigate the networks and editorial supports which contributed to its popularity (in France as well as in the Colonial Empire). Finally we will turn our attention towards the translators and the critics, and the onset of a comparative approach of translation in times of war.

The paper discusses verse written in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, that is published in Malawian newspapers, specifically the weeklies; the Weekend Nation and the Malawi News. The paper contends that the verse appearing in these newspapers are topical, essentially socio-political commentary that at the time of publication preoccupies the Malawi nation. Because the newspaper as a medium is populist the verse itself tends to be populist as well. This entails that the verse is largely ephemeral and its interest to a large extent lies not in its intrinsic quality but rather in the implications it may hold for the development of Chichewa poetry.

Mu Dan’s Poetry as a History of Modern China. Oxford Research Encyclopedia (ORE) of Asian History. Published 24 Oct. 2018, from http://asianhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-138 .
A PDF version of the weighty manuscript can be downloaded on the ORE site.
Three Figures are attached to the Academia.edu entry. A poetry audiobook (performed in Mu Dan's original and Huiwen Helen Zhang's transreading) is being produced.

《穆旦诗：一部现代中国史（1919-1976）》， 附张慧文原创图示三帧。
该文非以史料取胜，“以史注诗”；而是以细读立异，“以诗著史”。
《穆旦诗：一部现代中国史（1919-1976）》分为十一章：
青年—战争—幻灭—成熟—牺牲—曝露—启示—皈依（蜕变）—醒觉—痛苦—反思（返观）。
该文旨在以穆旦一人一生的诗歌为现代中国“立史”。每章以我选译的两首同“题”而不同“感”的穆旦诗为肉，以我的诗前“序”和诗后“评”为骨。同时，以从“民族之声”到“诗人之声”的虹桥标出每对“同题诗”参差的情感投射。

The presence of an artificial language in All’s Well that Ends Well 4.1 and 4.3, being an extraordinary instance in William
Shakespeare’s literary production, is a key device both for the humor of the play and for the depiction of one of its most memorable characters, Parolles. The purpose of this paper,
therefore, is to present a translation that aims to transmit the linguistic interaction established between the characters of the drum-plot and the audience to a modern Spanish-speaking context. In order to do so, first, I will examine the approaches of Luis Astrana and José María Valverde in their translations. Then, I will analyse the most representative examples of rhetorical iteration in this language that are relevant for the orallity of the play, so as to describe the adaptations considered in the final copy of the forthcoming translation by the Instituto Shakespeare.