Tuesday, January 23, 2018

FANBOY



Over in the Twitterverse, I received an unsolicited tweet reply from Emily Wilson, whose translation of The Odyssey I just finished. Sometimes the internet can be a beautiful place. Not often, but just enough.



troysworktable @troysworktable
As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books nineteen through twenty-four...

Emily Wilson @EmilyRCWilson
NB there are synopses in the actual book too.

[I love her nota bene.]

troysworktable @troysworktable
Now that I've finished the poem proper, I'll go back and read the synopses and notes. I wanted to see what 140 characters (or less) synopses of each book would entail (for me).



troysworktable @troysworktable
BTW, thank you so much for your translation. It is a splendid read. I loved the cadence and rhythm that you injected into the tale. A handful of times I checked your translation against Fagles just to see the differences. I prefer the directness of yours.

Emily Wilson @EmilyRCWilson
Fagles adds a lot!



[The literary "fanboy" in me swoons!]

Monday, January 22, 2018

SCARS and STOPS



"Penelope," gold ring, 5th century BC, Syria.


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As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books nineteen through twenty-four.

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BOOK 19

Beggar-Odyssey speaks with Penelope about Odysseus. Eurynome recognizes his scar. Dream contest.

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BOOK 20

Insomnia and Athena. Prayers and signs. Prep work of the slaves. Feast. Suitors torment T and O. Prophecy.

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BOOK 21

Bow of Iphitus. Crying slaves. Contest. Doors locked. The bow is strung. Bullseye!

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BOOK 22

Antinous as target. Fear! Slaughter and battle in the palace. Aegis! Cleaning blood. 12 girls w/o honor.

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BOOK 23

Eurycleia tells Penelope of Odysseus' return. Olive tree firmly rooted. Husband and wife cry and clasp.

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BOOK 24

A gathering of dead men. Odyssey and Laertes. Ithaca gathers, seeking revenge. Athena ends the war.

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Then Zeus ends the tale with an exclamation point? No, Athena takes his exclamation and makes it a period.

(Nikos Kazantzakis doesn't think the tale ends here. His The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel was published in 1938. But that is another story...)

Saturday, January 20, 2018

THE HUM of HOSPITALITY



"Tilla Durieux as Circe," tempera on canvas, circa 1913, by Franz von Stuck.

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As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books thirteen through eighteen.

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BOOK 13

Gifts and libations. Sailing home. Safe harbor in Ithaca. "Phaeacia prayed to Poseidon." Weaving a plan.

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BOOK 14

The swineherd Eumaeus. A meal of suckling pig. Cover story of Odysseus. Skeptical Eumaeus. Sleep with pigs.

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BOOK 15

Gifts from Menelaus. Telemachus heads home. Theoclymenus the prophet. The story of Eumaeus. Raptor signs.

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BOOK 16

Telemachus returns. Odysseus reveals himself to his son. A plot to kill the suitors is hatched.

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BOOK 17

To the palace. Foul-mouthed suitors. Argos recognizes Odysseus and dies. Antinous at odds with all.

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BOOK 18

Irus vs. Odysseus. Fight! Penelope: "suitors weakened at the knees." Taunts from slaves and suitors.

Friday, January 19, 2018

THE FEED



"Les Cyclopes," oil on cardboard mounted on panel, circa 1914, by Odilon Redon.

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As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of books seven through twelve.

(Most of these books include meals. Many of those meals include human flesh.)

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BOOK 7

Magic mist. Skipping Goddess. Orchard of Alcinous. (Second) supplication. "Your bed is ready."

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BOOK 8

Ship readied. Games of sport. The poet sings of adulterous gods. Dances. Apology. Gifts. Wooden Horse.

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BOOK 9

Tales of woe. Lotus Eaters. Cyclops. Cave. Human meat. Cups of wine. Noman. Blinding. Rams. Escape. Taunts.

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BOOK 10

Gift of Aeolus. Peek. Aeolus again. Giants. "A gruesome meal!" Circe. Pigs and wolves. Holy Moly. Feast(s).

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BOOK 11

Visit to Hades. Prophecy of Tiresias. News from the dead: Mom, famous wives & daughters, heroes, Heracles.

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BOOK 12

Burying Elpenor. Circe warns. Sirens. Scylla. Sun God. Eating forbidden meat. Storm at sea. 9 days adrift.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

TASTING NOTES: ODYSSEY



I don’t read ancient Greek, so I can’t go to the source material of The Odyssey and figure out for myself what particular terms meant at the time of their writing. Or what they mean now. Or what the best translation of a word or phrase might be. Instead, I have to rely on a translator.

Much like tasting a beer, different reader-translators discover different notes that linger within the text. One translator’s “cedar” may be another’s “pine.” Some of that may be due to methodology and some of it may be due to one’s own tastes and biases. But, just as though I like reading beer tasting notes of other drinkers, I likewise seeing what “notes” a reader-translator finds in a text.

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From Book 5. Calypso’s cave.

“Beside the hearth a mighty fire was burning. / The scent of citrus and of brittle pine / suffused the island.” (Wilson, V, 59-61)

“A great fire / blazed on the hearth and the smell of cedar / cleanly split and sweetwood burning bright / wafted a cloud of fragrance down the island.” (Fagles, V, 64-67)

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From Book 5. More Calypso’s cave.

“The meadow softly bloomed with celery / and violets.” (Wilson, V, 72-73)

“Soft meadows spreading round were starred with violets, / lush with beds of parsley.” (Fagles, V, 80-81)

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From Book 7. The orchard of Alcinous.

“The trees are tall, luxuriant with fruit: / bright-colored apples, pears and pomegranate, sweet figs and fertile olives…” (Wilson, VII, 115-117)

“Here luxuriant trees are always in their prime, / pomegranates and pears, and apples glowing red, / succulent figs and olives swelling sleek and dark.” (Fagles, VII, 132-134)

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Different approaches to the poetry and to the poetry of the translation lead to different notes, different terms. Citrus and pine versus sweetwood and cedar. Celery versus parsley. The same olives, but fertile in one instance and swelling sleek and dark in another.

If I too could taste these words without help, without them being fed to me on a baby's spoon, what flavors would I find there?

Monday, January 15, 2018

JANUARY CREATIVE COLLOQUY



Tonight, I read during the open mic of the January Creative Colloquy.

Usually, prior to a reading, I listen to heavy metal music to set the mood in my head for the pieces I'm going to read. But tonight, I listened to Vs. by Pearl Jam. It was a welcomed change in "warming up" for the reading.

The beer of the evening, for me, was 21st Amendment Brewery Blood Orange Brew Free or Die! IPA.

I had five new poems with me and ended up reading four of them. (I decided not to read the octopus-themed "Lullaby." The crowd didn't seem ready for it.) Lines from the four I did read follow.

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from "Graveyard Shift"

"A coffin can be life boat. / Ask Ishmael. Ask myself. / Queequeg isn't in the coffin. / My mother is in an urn."

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from "Moments on the River Walk"

"mere moments as they pass by on the river walk / time bent • folded • Möbiused / into orgami orchids and paper peonies // scent sealed into the pulp during manufacture"

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from "Laniakea (Immeasurable Heaven)"

"sewn into their canoes / pushed by the currents / pulled by the star that tether their eyes"

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from "Eighth"

"all is Holy Holy Holy / in the mouths of the blessed angels // do not steal this from them / do not clamber up and seat yourself / upon the throne"

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The standing-room-only crowd was attentive, gracious, and responsive. It was an awesome night of poetry and a few scattered short stories.

Saturday, January 13, 2018

TWITTER CALYPSO



"Pallas Athena," oil on canvas, circa 1920, by Frantisek Xaver Naske.

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As I've been reading Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey, I've posted a brief synopsis of each book I complete on Twitter. Here are my collected Twitter synopses of the first six books.

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BOOK 1

Athena advocates for Odysseus. Athena appears as Mentes to Telemachus. The stage is set.

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BOOK 2

The taunting of Telemachus. Athena as Mentor. Secret sail on wine-dark sea.

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BOOK 3

Audience with Nestor. Athena's guidance of Telemachus revealed. Proper sacrifice.

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BOOK 4

Audience with Menelaus. Tears (of Telemachus). News from the Sea God. Suitors plot. Penelope dreams.

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BOOK 5

Divine Council decides. Citrus, pine. Message. Release. Preparations. Poseidon strikes. Ino soothes.

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BOOK 6

Laundry. Nausicaa. "Athena's eyes flashed bright." Naked Odysseus. Plan for supplication. Athena's grove.

DUSK PAINTINGS

A triptych of "dusk paintings" along the Puyallup Riverwalk Trail.


Willow.


Cottonwood.


Wild cherry.

Friday, January 12, 2018

AN ODYSSEY


"Athena as Mentor," pencil, watercolor ink, and India ink on 8½" x 11" cardstock.

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"Like through the jointed grass / The long-stemmed deer / Almost vanishes / But a hound has already found her flattened tracks / And he's running through the fields toward her"

—from Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad by Alice Oswald

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Where there is hound, there is likely hunter. I imagine Artemis not too far off, the string of her bow drawn taut, the head of the arrow waiting to strike at the heart, tried and true.

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I was readying myself for another "Cutting In" project. I thought I was going to explore the artwork and poetry of William Blake. But the Cosmic Octopus had other plans for me and pushed me in the direction of The Odyssey by Homer, as translated by Emily Wilson.

I had been a longtime fan of the translation by Robert Fagles, but I think Emily Wilson renders the poetry of the lines better. I'm no reader of Greek, so I have to have some faith that the translator knows what he or she is doing and accept that their interpretation works for me. Until the Wilson translation, for me, that was Fagles.

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As Wilson writes in her "Tranlator's Note:"

"The original is in six-footed lines (dactylic hexameter), the conventional meter for archaic Greek narrative verse. I used iambic pentameter, because it is the conventional meter for regular English narrative verse—the rhythm of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Keats, and plenty of more recent anglophone poets. I have spent many hours reading aloud, both the Greek original and my own work in progress. Homer's music is quite different than mine, but my translation sings to its own regular and distinctive beat."

It is that "regular and distinctive beat" of Wilson's translation to which I am attracted.

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It is not just The Odyssey to which the Cosmic Octopus leads me, but to the first translation of the poem into English by a woman.

I already have a copy of Memorial: A Version of Homer's Iliad by Alice Oswald, which is a very intensely focused mixture of paraphrase and translation of only the death scenes and similes of Homer's original.

I have Caroline Alexander's translation of The Iliad on order.

I am probably going to have to order Sarah Ruden's translation of the Homeric Hymns.

It seems that I will be journeying through Homer's work and words (and those classically attributed to him but not necessarily by him) alongside female guides, much like Telemachus or Odysseus under the protection and guidance of the goddess Athena.

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"Of Pallas Athene, guardian of the city, I begin to sing. Dread is she, and with Ares she loves deeds of war, the sack of cities and the shouting and the battle. It is she who saves the people as they go out to war and come back. Hail, goddess, and give us good fortune with happiness!"

—from "To Athena," XI, Homeric Hymns, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White

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As I start this new version of "Cutting In," may Athena and the Cosmic Octopus grant me good fortune with happiness!

Tuesday, January 02, 2018

(SILENT) CONVERGENCES


Detail of a handful of the 22 chapbooks that comprise Float by Anne Carson.

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"I myself have increasingly found myself being visited by similarly uncanny moments of convergence, bizarre associations, eerie rhymes, whispered recollections—sometimes in the weirdest places."
—from the introduction of Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences by Lawrence Weschler

I have placed this quote on the worktable prior, and have referred to Weschler and his book many times. There is something that deeply resonates not only in the book, but in the kernel idea of this very quote and how it informs everything in the book!

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And the quote resonates more and more for me these days. I'm seeing things that have been there all along and I simply didn't notice before. Or, I am being drawn to things that create patterns, but I don't quite understand why the attraction was there in the first place.

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For example: Rilke.

I've been reading Rainer Maria Rilke's "Eighth Elegy" (from the Duino Elegies) for a year and am just now starting to see more and more "eerie rhymes, whispered recollections" of Rilke around. In fact, there is a Rilke quote used as an epigraph to Everything That Rises.

And in the recent death of William H. Gass, I learned that Gass had written multiple essays on Rilke and translated Rilke's Duino Elegies, something I had somehow overlooked. And in Gass's translations, I was reminded of those of Edward Snow, which I believe speak strongest to me.

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For example: Hölderlin.

In Gass, I "discovered" Hölderlin as an influence on Rilke. Yet Hölderlin was always there. He was a large part of Heidegger's essay on Rilke's poetry and, specifically, Rilke's "Eighth Elegy."

And then I realized I had read a translation of a fragment from one of Hölderlin's fragments—from "In Lovely Blue (In Lieblicher Bläue)," translated by George Kalogeris. In fact, I own the issue of Poetry magazine in which it resides.

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For example: Float.

I fell in love with Anne Carson many times—Eros the Bittersweet; The Autobiography of Red; Men in the Off Hours; If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho; Decreation. And then I was confused by her—NOX. And then I was not only confused, but also angered by her—Red Doc>. Which meant that I avoided Float when it was initially released.

But I was intrigued by the format—twenty-two chapbooks that can be read in any order.

So I eventually gave in and fell in love with Carson again.

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Tonight, reading through "Variations on the Right to Remain Silent," amongst Carson's ruminations on the untranslatable in the poetry of Homer, the "heretical" statements of Joan of Arc, the paintings of Francis Bacon, was the work of Hölderlin and his untranslatable term Pallaksch.

And not only was I given the gift of more Hölderlin, but there were echoes here on translation that I've been encountering in various translators of Rilke into English (Gary Miranda, Stephen Mitchell, Edward Snow), in Gass on Rilke, and in Sarah Ruden on the Hebrew and Christian scriptures (Old and New Testaments).

And then Anne Carson went "full on" crazy and pressed the issue of the untranslatable and the act of translation by translating a fragmentary poem by 6th century BC poet Ibykos through the words and work of John Donne, Bertolt Brecht's FBI file, Samuel Beckett, Gustav Janouch, the London Underground signs and stops, and a microwave's owner's manual.

And, as I said, I fell in love with Anne Carson again.

And I dug back into some of the essays of Weschler.

And I heard some echoes.

And I heard some echoes.

And I heard some echoes.