Fictional Translations: Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor,” by Ilan Stavans

Fictional Translations: Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor,” by Ilan Stavans Poetry [email protected] Mon, 06/26/2023 - 13:48 Photo by throgers / FlickrIn what follows, I have created three heteronyms to render Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor” into English. They are presented in chronological order by date of birth. Their views on translation are dramatically different: one specializes in baroque styles but looks at Neruda to achieve the opposite—“simplicity as art”; another uses ChatGPT to “delegate responsibility”; and a third, part of Gen Z, believes in “humility in language as a strategy to liberate the world.” These are their bios and philosophical stands: Born in Manchester and raised in Bogotá, Jacinta Candelaria (1933–2007) studied at the London School of Economics before moving to Phoenix, where she was part of the Chicano Movement. Candelaria translated Tomás Rivera’s And the Earth Did Not Part (1981), then engaged with baroque Latin American writers such as Severo Sarduy (Christ of Rue Jacob, 1987), José Lezama Lima (Havana: City of Columns, 1993), and Gustavo Pardeles (Loveless Love, 1996). Her penchant for ornamented authors is in contrast with the simplicity of Neruda, whose work she repeatedly translated (Ode to Typography, 2004; Album of Birds, 2005; and Sea Quake, 2006). “The translation’s task, I’ve learned over time,” Candelaria stated in an interview in The Telegraph (August 6, 1999), “is to vanish without... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2023-06-26 18:48:50 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Fictional Translations: Pablo Neruda’s “Oda al actor,” by Ilan Stavans"


Former 'Friends' writer says the stars were unhappy and purposely tanked jokes they didn't like

A former "Friends" writer's new memoir details her experience on the show at a time when the stars seemed unhappy, and the writers room wasn't so friendly. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-08-25 01:20:03 UTC ]
More news stories like this


‘A tired old show’: Friends writer claims cast deliberately ruined jokes

Patty Lin says that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and co forced rewrites of gags they didn’t like by performing them badlyFriends may have been a worldwide smash hit that made megastars of its cast, but – according to one of its writers – the actors weren’t always trying their... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-24 10:34:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Making ‘Necessary Trouble’: A historian rises above her roots

Drew Gilpin Faust, former Harvard University president, discusses her memoir “Necessary Trouble,” about her rebellion against sexist and racist strictures of 1950s Virginia. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2023-08-22 16:11:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Amor Towles Sees Dead People

The novelist discusses his career and his recent essay about cadavers in crime fiction, and the actor Richard E. Grant talks about his memoir and his love of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-08-18 17:55:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lessons and Carols for Recovery and Redemption

John West’s Lessons and Carols is a lyric memoir of recovery, parenting, loss, and hope, which is also periodically quite funny (ex. the first line of the first Lesson, “Caring for this baby has taught me new ways to resent.”) Hopscotching through time, the memoir shows us West’s first, early... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-08-18 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Crafting Madness: Stephanie Heit on Joining a Lineage of Authors with Mental Health Difference

Stephanie Heit’s new book, Psych Murders, is a hybrid memoir poem that documents her experience of shock treatment. She traces her queer mad bodymind through breathlessness, damage, refusal, and memory loss as it shifts in and out of locked psychiatric wards and extreme bipolar states. Stephanie... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-18 09:25:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Pidgeon Pagonis on the Urgency of Writing a Memoir as an Intersex Writer

Pidgeon and I met in the summer of 2020, the summer of sickness, and violent change. We spoke over Zoom, nearly 800 miles apart—I had been hired as a developmental editor for an intersex activist named Pidgeon Pagonis. A developmental editor is a bit of a catch-all title: we do a bit of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-17 09:20:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this


How to watch Christian Cooper discuss 'Better Living Through Birding' at L.A. Times Book Club

'Extraordinary Birder' host Christian Cooper brings his memoir 'Better Living Through Birding: Notes From a Black Man in the Natural World' to the L.A. Times Book Club. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-08-16 20:59:16 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The Memoir That Found Me: Michaele Weissman on Food, Marriage, and Identity

My husband, a professor of electrical engineering by trade, is the kind of obsessive for which I have an affinity in my writing life. A refugee born in Latvia, John loves Latvian rye bread fervently. He eats Latvian rye several times a day and is unable to leave home without a five-pound loaf... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-16 09:50:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Exclusive: See the cover for Wei Tchou’s experimental memoir Little Seed.

Literary Hub is pleased to reveal the cover for Wei Tchou’s Little Seed, “an experimental memoir that braids together the narrative of the author’s relationship with her brother and family with a deeply personal field guide to ferns,” which will be published by Deep Vellum/A Strange Object in... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-15 14:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘deeply personal and revealing’ autobiography to be published in 2025

Pan Macmillan will publish the former first minister’s as-yet-untitled memoirNicola Sturgeon’s “deeply personal and revealing” memoir will be published in 2025 by Pan Macmillan, after nine publishers bid for it at auction.After her resignation as Scotland’s first minister in February, Sturgeon... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-09 10:49:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Catherine Taylor Reads From The Stirrings: A Memoir in Northern Time

Damian Barr’s Literary Salon tempts the world’s best writers to read exclusively from their latest greatest works and share their own personal stories. Star guests include Jojo Moyes, John Waters, Yaa Gyasi, Mary Beard, Diana Athill and Louis de Bernières—all in front of a live audience at... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-09 08:58:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The BBC’s Fergal Keane: ‘The breakdowns get harder to recover from each time’

The former BBC war reporter, now special correspondent, on the terror of PTSD, his tips for living with it day to day, and the people and poets he admiresDuring a career spanning more than 30 years, BBC special correspondent Fergal Keane has covered brutal conflicts in South Africa, Rwanda and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-06 08:30:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this


These 8 books will help soothe your climate anxiety by focusing on the little things

In a climate crisis that feels huge and hopeless, these eight books — essays, fiction, memoir and poetry on the wild — will help you focus on small things Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-08-04 13:00:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Lit Hub Daily: August 2, 2023

Julie Schumacher on 30 years of correspondence with her late friend, Melissa Bank: “I feel the impulse to write to her when I see the coil of postage stamps on my desk, or when I read a book that I wish she could read.” | Lit Hub Memoir When the Beatles found their voice. | […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-08-02 10:30:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Paul Reubens was writing a memoir that his team is 'hoping' to publish posthumously

Paul Reubens 'finished a first draft' of a memoir about his life and career before he died, a representative for the Pee-wee Herman actor has confirmed. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-08-01 18:13:09 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A Poet Captures the Terror of Life in an Authoritarian State

A memoir by Tahir Hamut Izgil, a Uyghur intellectual who escaped China, explores the corrosive effect of repression and surveillance on his community. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-08-01 12:36:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Book Review: ‘A Pocketful of Happiness,’ by Richard E. Grant

The Oscar-nominated actor’s new memoir is at once a Hollywood air kiss and a moving tribute to a happy marriage that ended too soon. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-08-01 09:01:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this


8 New Nonfiction Books Being Released in August

August's new nonfiction books include a memoir exploring the model minority myth, a historical look at Middle Eastern horsewomen, and more, including Mexikid by Pedro Martín. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-07-31 10:34:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Criminally Hot: 15 New Mystery, Thrillers, & True Crime For August 2023

There's something for every reader in August's new mystery, thriller, and crime releases, from a true crime memoir to historical mysteries including Harlem After Midnight by Louise Hare. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-07-31 10:33:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this