Sunday, May 18, 2008
A lack of locusts
140. Locust Sahna
Take locusts that have returned from hunting, discard the dead ones, and drown the ones that are alive in water and salt. When they are drowned and dead, put them in a large container. In a mortar crush dry coriander [seeds], fennel, and asafetida in due quantity, and in [another] container alternate a layer of locusts with a layer of spices, adding salt generously in the course of doing this. [Let the prepartaion macerate for awhile.] When the water in which the locusts were drowned has lightened and become clear, pour it little by little [over the locusts] until there is none left and seal the two handled jug, taking care that you do not let in air, which would ruin the contents. It is necessary to wait for the product to mature; then it may be eaten.
This recipe comes from a delightful book, Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, by Lilia Zaouali, published by the University of California Press in 2007. Details here. The book is a splendid read, even if you do not intend to cook from it (though some of its couscous and pasta recipes are quite worthwhile experimenting with — not to speak of the pastries and jams.) Based on the earliest existent Arab cookbooks, the book gives powerful insight into the golden age of Arab culture, the Abassid period (~750-1258 AD) in Baghdad, as well as into the earliest cuisines of the Maghreb. Interesting tidbits come to light, such as when the author informs us that "Iraqis during the Abassid period invented a special sauce for long-distance travel (recipe 115), a dehydrated preparation similar to the powdered soups — Maggi and Knorr tablets — we know today; it was a forerunner of Liebig's famous extracts in the nineteenth century." Though I think I'll rather prepare that Sibagh for long-distance travel than use a Maggi cube...
Labels: Arab cuisine, Lilia Zaouali, locusts
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Rosmarie Waldrop Wins Translation Award
From the judge's (Marylin Hacker)citation: “The first test of a book of poems in translation is, of course, how convincingly the poems exist as poems in the receptor language. Waldrop has succeeded in re-creating, and thus creating, a poetry in English that is at once exuberantly postmodern and in lively dialogue with such unabashedly lyrical, often satirical English language innovators as Hopkins, e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas, Ashbery (imagine mentioning them in the same sentence!), and younger poets like Karen Volkman and Dan Beachy-Quick. Waldrop’s rendering and concise explanation of Stolterfoht’s wide-ranging cultural and literary references is discreet and magisterial. There is wit, cultural and political satire; there are barbed non sequiturs, but all playing against a metrical/lexical virtuosity that obviously attracted and delighted the poet-translator in the original, which she has transposed with dazzling sleight-of-mind into English.”
Labels: Pen Translation Award, Rosmarie Waldrop
Thursday, May 15, 2008
40 years ago
I am rereading right now a little book by Régis Debray, published in 1978, long out of print in France (unless they reprint it this May) and never translated into English, with the ironic title: Modeste contribution aux discours et cérémonies officielles du dixième anniversaire. Debray sat in prison in South America, awaiting possible execution or life in jail, during the heady days of the Parisian May "revolution," incarcerated for having actually put his shoulder to the revolutionary wheel by joining the Che's (by then) doomed struggle for an actual revolution. His view of the "évènements" ten years later was untinged by any "ancien combattant" nostalgia, and he very cooly interpreted '68 as the hinge-moment when an old-fashioned, conservative agrarian society (where the reigning bourgeoisie found itself politically and ideologically way behind the logic of its own economic development) was forced to open up and allow the country to update its various conduits so as to bring the capitalist machinery up to industrial and post-industrial speed. Which was done.
Also thinking about a piece by Timothy Garton-Ash in the current Guardian; he is meditating on 68 and its reversed number 89 ‚ which in terms of "revolution" may be the more important date. Below, a paragraph from his essay; you can read the full version here.
Politically, 89 changed far more. The Warsaw and Prague springs of 1968 ended in defeat; the Paris, Rome and Berlin springs ended in partial restorations, or only incremental change. Probably the largest street demo in Paris, on May 30 1968, was a manifestation of the political right, which the French electorate then returned to power for another decade. In West Germany, some of the spirit of 1968 flowed more successfully into Willy Brandt's reformist social democracy. Everywhere in the west, capitalism survived, reformed itself, and prospered. The events of 1989, by contrast, ended communism in Europe, the Soviet empire, the division of Germany, and an ideological and geopolitical struggle - the cold war - that had shaped world politics for half a century. It was, in its geopolitical results, as big as 1945 or 1914. By comparison, 68 was a molehill.And meanwhile Le Monde, a good newspaper in serious trouble, is trying to attract subscribers with the following image — ah! nostalgie quand tu nous tiens!
Labels: May 68
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Si Mohand's isefra
His poetry — oral compositions in Amazigh, i.e. Berber — were taken down in writing early in the twentieth century by Boulifa and commented on most recently by Younes Adli in his book Si Mohand or Mhand: Errance et révolte (Edif, 2000). My English workings are based on Mouloud Feraoun’s French versions in the latter's Les Poèmes de Si Mohand, a bilingual Berber-French edition, published by Editions de Minuit, 1960. Below a few samples. I am including a transcription of the first poem in Berber, as that will give the reader a sense of the vowel music & rhyme schemes at play in the original poems:
1.
- Thikelta ad hhedjigh asfrou
- Oua lahh addlhhou
- Addinaddi ddeg louddiath.
- Oui thislan ar dha thiarou
- Our as iverou
- Oui ilan ddelfahhem izrath :
- An helel Rebbi athet ihheddou
- Ghoures ai neddaou
- Add vaddent addrim nekfath.
This is my poem:
If it’s God’s pleasure, it will be beautiful
And spread far and wide.
He who hears it will write it down,
He will not let it go
And the wise man will agree with me:
May God inspire them with pity.
He alone can preserve us:
When women forget us, we have nothing left!
16.
I have sworn that from Tizi-Ouzou
All the way to Akfadou
No one will impose their law on me.
We will break, but without bending:
It’s better to be cursed
When the chiefs are pimps.
Exile is inscribed on the forehead:
I prefer to leave my country
Than to be humiliated among these pigs.
17.
If I hadn’t lost my mind
I would have condemned the kif
Unworthy people take advantage of.
It is source of inequality
It has enriched the slave,
The wise man has stayed behind.
Oh my God, what an injustice!
How can you tolerate it?
Isn’t it soon the turn of the poor?
18.
He took the vow of sainthood
And sinks into sin
The rosary around his neck.
Expect no charity, no clemency from him;
But his demise is near
God’s anger is on him.
You who unmask the hypocrite,
Why would we invoke you?
The day of the evil one will come.
Labels: Si Mohand
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Redirect to Collectages
the way up is the way down
with some material from Robert Kelly and Ted Enslin
so often
as if earth had a trachea
full of dust
I envision my sons Adam and Ari falling through the street
'as if earth had a trachea'
that was your phrase but
I envision my sons Adam and Ari falling through the street
that wasn't what you had in mind?
that was your phrase but
I was drawn to an image of falling;
that wasn't what you had in mind
father?
I was drawn to an image of falling—
the way up is the way down—
father
did you used to have such pictures?
the way up is the way down
so often
did you used to have such pictures
full of dust
Labels: Collectages, Staten Island
Friday, May 09, 2008
Finalists of 21st Annual Translation Prizes
The Florence Gould Foundation
Announce Finalists of 21stth Annual Translation Prizes
Best English Translations of French Prose in 2007 Honored
New York, NY (May 5, 2008) – The French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation announce today the finalists for their 21st Annual Translation Prizes for superior English translations of French works published in 2007. There will be one award for translation in fiction, and a second for non-fiction.
The FICTION finalists are:
Allah Is Not Obliged
Ahmadou Kourouma
Translated by Frank Wynne
Anchor Books
Random House
Kick the Animal Out
Véronique Ovaldé
Translated by Adriana Hunter
MacAdam Cage
Place Names
Jean Ricardou
Translated by Jordan Stump
Dalkey Archive Press
Ravel
Jean Echenoz
Translated by Linda Coverdale
The New Press
Solea
Jean-Claude Izzo
Translated by Howard Curtis
Europa Editions
The NON-FICTION finalists are:
The Curtain
Milan Kundera
Translated by Linda Asher
HarperCollins
Divagations
Stéphane Mallarmé
Translated by Barbara Johnson
Harvard University Press
A Voice from Elsewhere
Maurice Blanchot
Translated by Charlotte Mandell
State University of New York Press
How to Talk about Books
You Haven’t Read
Pierre Bayard
Translated by Jeffrey Mehlman
Bloomsbury USA
Life Laid Bare
Jean Hatzfeld
Translated by Linda Coverdale
Other Press
Winners of the fiction and non-fiction prizes will receive a cash prize of $10,000 each, funded by the Florence Gould Foundation. They will be honored at a special ceremony on May 28 in New York.
“We are proud to carry on this tradition for more than 20 years now with our partner the Florence Gould Foundation,” said French-American Foundation Director, Emma Archer. “We work together to draw public attention to the best new translations and to encourage the American publishers who bring significant French texts to the English reading audience.”
Jurors for this year’s competition in the Non Fiction category include Tom Bishop, Antoine Compagnon, Richard Howard and Lily Tuck. Jurors in the Fiction category include Tom Bishop, Antoine Compagnon, Richard Howard, Linda Asher, and Lily Tuck.
About The French-American Foundation
The French-American Foundation is the principal non-governmental link between France and the United States at leadership levels and across the full range of the French-American relationship.
About The Florence Gould Foundation
The Florence Gould Foundation is an American foundation devoted to French-American exchange and friendship. Born of French parents in San Francisco in 1895, Florence Gould lived both in the United States and France during her lifetime. At her death in 1993, Florence Gould left the bulk of her fortune to the foundation bearing her name.
PAST RECIPIENTS OF THE FLORENCE GOULD FOUNDATION AND FRENCH-AMERICAN FOUNDATION TRANSLATION PRIZES
2006 Sandra Smith for Suite Française by Irène Némirovski’s (Alfred A. Knopf), Bruce Fink for his translation of Ecrits by Jacques Lacan (WW. Norton).
2005 Daniel Weissbort for Missing Person, a translation of Patrick Modiano’s Rue des boutiques obscures (David Godine Publishers), Sharon Bowman for The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism, a translation of Philippe Roger’s L’Ennemi Américain: Généalogie de l’antiaméricanisme français (University of Chicago Press).
2004 Helen Marx for Silbermann, a translation of Jacques de Lacretelle's Silbermann (Helen Marx Books),
Arthur Goldhammer for Democracy in America, a translation of Alexis de Tocqueville's De la démocratie
en Amérique (The Library of America).
2003 Lydia Davis for Swann’s Way, a translation of Marcel Proust Du coté de chez Swann (Viking Press), Janet Lloyd for The Writing of Orpheus, a translation of Marcel Detiènne’s L’écriture d’Orphée (Johns Hopkins University Press).
2002 Jeff Fort for Aminadab, a translation of Maurice Blanchot’s Aminadab (University of Nebraska Press), James Hogarth for The Toilers of the Sea, a translation of Victor Hugo’s Les travailleurs de la mer (Modern Library), and Anthony Roberts for Jihad, a translation of Gilles Kepel Jihad, (Harvard University Press).
2001 Jordan Stump for The Jardin des Plantes, a translation of Claude Simon’s Le Jardin des Plantes (Northwestern University Press)
2000 Linda Asher for The Case of Dr. Sachs, a translation of Martin Winckler’s La maladie de Sachs (Seven Stories Press)
1999 Richard Howard for The Charterhouse of Parma, a translation of Stendhal's La chartreuse de Parme (Random House)
1998 Madeleine Velguth for Children of Clay, a translation of Raymond Queneau’s Les enfants du limon (Sun & Moon Press)
1997 Linda Coverdale for Literature or Life, a translation of Jorge Semprun's L’écriture ou la vie (Viking Penguin) and Barbara Wright for Here, a translation of Nathalie Sarraute's Ici (George Braziller)
1996 Arthur Goldhammer for Realms of Memory: The Construction of the French Past, vol.1, a translation of Pierre Nora’s Les lieux de mémoire (Columbia University Press)
1994 Joachim Neugroschel for With Downcast Eyes, a translation of Tahar Ben Jelloun's Les yeux baissés (Little Brown & Co.)
1993 Nina Rootes for Sky Memoirs, a translation of Blaise Cendrars' Lotissement du ciel (Paragon House)
1992 Lydia Davis for Rules of the Game I: Scratches, a translation of Michel Leiris' La règle du jeu: biffures (Paragon House)
1991 Burton Raffel for Gargantua and Pantagruel, a translation of François Rabelais' Gargantua et Pantagruel (W.W. Norton & Company)
1990 Arthur Goldhammer for A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, a translation of François Furet and Mona Ozouf's Dictionnaire critique de la Révolution Française (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)
1989 Franklin Philip for The Statue Within, a translation of François Jacob's La statue intérieure (Basic Books)
1988 David Bellos for Life, a User's Manual, a translation of Georges Perec's La vie, mode d'emploi (David Godine Publishers)
1987 Richard Howard for William Marshal, the Flowering of Chivalry, a translation of Georges Duby's Guillaume le Maréchal (Pantheon Books)
1986 Barbara Bray for The Writing of Stones, a translation of Roger Callois' L'écriture des pierres (University of Virginia Press)
Labels: Florence Gould Foundation, Translation Prizes
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Tariq Ali on Afghanistan
AFGHANISTAN: MIRAGE OF THE GOOD WAR
Rarely has there been such an enthusiastic display of international unity as that which greeted the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Support for the war was universal in the chanceries of the West, even before its aims and parameters had been declared. nato governments rushed to assert themselves ‘all for one’. Blair jetted round the world, proselytizing the ‘doctrine of the international community’ and the opportunities for peace-keeping and nation-building in the Hindu Kush. Putin welcomed the extension of American bases along Russia’s southern borders. Every mainstream Western party endorsed the war; every media network—with bbc World and cnn in the lead—became its megaphone. For the German Greens, as for Laura Bush and Cherie Blair, it was a war for the liberation of the women of Afghanistan. For the White House, a fight for civilization. For Iran, the impending defeat of the Wahhabi enemy.
Three years later, as the chaos in Iraq deepened, Afghanistan became the ‘good war’ by comparison. It had been legitimized by the un—even if the resolution was not passed until after the bombs had finished falling—and backed by nato. If tactical differences had sharpened over Iraq, they could be resolved in Afghanistan. First Zapatero, then Prodi, then Rudd, compensated for pulling troops out of Iraq by dispatching them to Kabul. France and Germany could extol their peace-keeping or civilizing roles there. As suicide bombings increased in Baghdad, Afghanistan was now—for American Democrats keen to prove their ‘security’ credentials—the ‘real front’ of the war on terror, supported by every us presidential candidate in the run-up to the 2008 elections, with Senator Obama pressuring the White House to violate Pakistani sovereignty whenever necessary. With varying degrees of firmness, the occupation of Afghanistan was also supported by China, Iran and Russia; though in the case of the latter, there was always a strong element of Schadenfreude. Soviet veterans of the Afghan war were amazed to see their mistakes now being repeated by the United States in a war even more inhumane than its predecessor.
Meanwhile, the number of Afghan civilians killed has exceeded many tens of times over the 2,746 who died in Manhattan. Unemployment is around 60 per cent and maternal, infant and child mortality levels are now among the highest in the world. Opium harvests have soared, and the ‘Neo-Taliban’ is growing stronger year by year. By common consent, Karzai’s government does not even control its own capital, let alone provide an example of ‘good governance’. Reconstruction funds vanish into cronies’ pockets or go to pay short-contract Western consultants. Police are predators rather than protectors. The social crisis is deepening. Increasingly, Western commentators have evoked the spectre of failure—usually in order to spur encore un effort. A Guardian leader summarizes: ‘Defeat looks possible, with all the terrible consequences that will bring.’
Two principal arguments, often overlapping, are put forward as to ‘what went wrong’ in Afghanistan. For liberal imperialists, the answer can be summarized in two words: ‘not enough’. The invasion organized by Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld was done on the cheap. The ‘light footprint’ demanded by the Pentagon meant that there were too few troops on the ground in 2001–02. Financial commitment to ‘state-building’ was insufficient. Though it may now be too late, the answer is to pour in more troops, more money—‘multiple billions’ over ‘multiple years’, according to the us Ambassador in Kabul. The second answer—advanced by Karzai and the White House, but propagated by the Western media generally—can be summed up in one word: Pakistan. Neither of these arguments holds water.
Labels: Afghanistan, New Left Review, Tariq Ali
