Maurer -- Brennan

 Professor Maurer gave a very touching presentation and was also a very clear and understandable speaker.  Many of the ideas he presented intrigued me.

As if we hadn't already put enough nails in the coffin of the Original, I was fascinated by his description of working with poetry that appears in multiple unpublished versions. To my way of thinking they would all be equally original. This got me thinking, though, what is a "final" version? If we are questioning the idea that the original is supreme, we should also question the idea that the final is supreme. Without even mentioning publishing, an author may go through many drafts of a work before it is final. Working with a Dead Author, there is nothing to prevent the reader from saying that an earlier draft is preferable to a later.

But we do have to mention publishing. I was sad that the publishers couldn't see the sales potential of the title "35 Poems". Title or absence of title can be such an important part of a work, as we saw in discussing how to translate The Face of My Daughters. I also have to think of Saturn Devouring His Son, the painting by Goya. Says Wikipedia, "It is important to note that Goya never named the works he produced at Quinta del Sordo; the names were assigned by others after his death." The title absolutely colors the interpretation, and so I have to wonder what Azure Cloister would have been under a different name.

I can't get on board with the idea of insisting on translating words by their cognates, especially when those cognates will have come via Latin rather than directly from Spanish. The different strata of the English language all come with their different social and political histories, and Latin is the most elevated. Not every poem is best served by elevated language.