I liked Carlos Rojas' talk and was particularly interested in his comments on Lenin´s Kisses. I am fascinated by the concept of a book whose plot takes place in the footnotes. I think that the solution of creating neologisms in English was super creative. I also personally would have been interested in reading a book titled Silence and Gasping, jaja. Unfortunately, Carlos Rojas did not discuss his own translations. I was looking forward to hearing his remarks on translating The Disappearance of M. With his 60+ slides, he seemed to mention so much besides it. Nonetheless, I respect his work and acknowledge the importance that comes with being consistent in one’s translation strategy.
Carlos Germán Belli´s poetry and Karl Maurer´s English translations were such a treat! Christopher is also a prominent translator and scholar in his own right, of course. Although he had introduced Belli’s poetry to me in September, I did not notice the true depth it reached (until now). Reading about Belli’s relationship with his brother Alfonso through the poetry was deeply moving, and I can’t help but think about the relationship that Karl and Christopher share. I could not help but get emotional reading their email exchanges. I can just imagine how equally exciting and frustrating the revision process must have been. As Karl mentions in his introduction, Belli seems to use each word as a gate to its own web of images, and he seamlessly weaves a Baroque, Golden-Age-Spanish-poetry style with everyday language. He goes from discussing alienation and nihilism to nostalgia and familial love, and it is these contradictions that I think Karl captures so well in his translations. It is beyond impressive to think that Karl went about translating these poems over the course of thirty years, capturing Belli’s “subtle, fine humor that reflects happiness, even when he is saying the most terrible things!” I especially enjoyed “Nudo.” It made me tear up. Below I have included some immediate observations I made from the five poems Christopher provided (I didn’t realize how long this post ended up being–apologies for that and any mistakes I have):
Frunce el feto su frente
Flexibility in Spanish syntax that becomes difficult to replicate in English: Frunce el feto / y sus cejas enarca → “The foetus screws his face, / brows arches,” (Maurer maintains the verb, noun / noun, verb order)
Form: I love, love, love the meter and rhyme that Karl includes in his translation. Belli commonly writes in a rhythm of stressed-unstressed syllables, which Karl most often replicates in loose iambs. The end rhymes like “time” and “slime,” “cloister” and “roister,” and “crag” and “drag” are also lovely.
Gender: There is no one gender specified to the fetus in the Spanish; both Maurer and Shapiro make it a “he” (but perhaps this could be a genderless, literary “he”)
Elevated register: there are many literary phrases that would not be used in everyday Spanish, including do (“where”) in do se truecan sin tasa → “which…he comes to rent in time” (Maurer)
Por el monte abajo
Form: endecasílabo (11 syllables per line) with sinalefa (vowel combining between words) and eight syllables in the fifth line → about 10 syllables with 6-8 in the fifth in Maurer’s English translation
More antiquated, literary words: centuplicando → “centuplicating,” como si dellos fuere (de ellos + future subjunctive)→ “as if they had no fate,” a tutiplén → “overflowing,” raudo → “swift,” peña → “crag”
Although there is also a mixing of old and new in the translation: feudo → “fiefdom,” cetro → “sceptre,” poquillo (poco + diminutive, so playful!) → “a little”
La cara de mis hijas
I also teared-up reading this poem
Form: endecasílabo (11 syllables per line) again → about 8-9 syllables in Karl’s English translation
Interesting translation differences between Shapiro and Maurer:
Cielo → “heaven” (Shapiro) or “sky” (Maurer) ?
Mis ambas hijas → “my two young daughters” (Shapiro) or “in either daughter” (Maurer)
Todo aqeullo que ajeno yo creía → “to an everything an older self once new” (Shapiro) or “what I had thought was alien” (Maurer)
Beautiful repetition, change in line order:
Conmigo y con el mundo → “with myself and men” (Maurer) or “with myself and with the world” (Shapiro)
A diario a tutiplén engueciéndome → “I see it blinding and abounding”
Recuerdo de hermano
Translation of title: “Memory of My Brother” (Maurer) vs “Memory of a Brother” (Shapiro)
I personally love the addition of “my.” This is such an intimate piece.
Mix of literalness with more poetic language (which I think shows how impressively Karl is balancing all the images at once, like Belli. Karl is creating equally-beautiful poetry in English):
Bramar (to roar, bellow) → “resounding” (both emphatic and sonorous!)
Palpar → “palpate” (love this jaja)
Inversion, changing infinitive to conjugated verb form: al salir cada cual afuera rápido → “since everyone has gone quickly outside”
More repetition with a melodious quality:
y la esfera fatal / y la esfera feliz → “and the fate-heavy sphere / and the felicitous”
tu cuadrado, tu círculo, tu mundo → “your pure square, pure circle, purest world”
Word play with estuviera (ambiguous "to be" – location, feelings; temporary states): como si en vez de mí estuvieras tú → “as if instead of me it were you here”
Cavilación del caminante
Another interesting difference in title: “The Walker’s Perplexity” (Maurer) vs “Walking Meditation” (Shapiro)
Cavilar = to ponder, think deeply, reflect
Making sense of the Spanish in translation: Diariamente camino siempre (two adverbs) → “I always take a daily walk”
Antiquating in English:
Y por allí feliz discurro → “and thither I stroll happily”
Alguien → "late-comer"
- Repetition of ajeno! : e inerme ante el andar ajeno → “that cannot fight the alien footstep”
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