The Synchronicity of Indeterminacy

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Special Announcement!

I'll be back writing stories with the weekend photo. Also, this week marks the begin of a new project that I invite you all to follow. David Raphael Israel and I have begun a Kurt Tucholsky project in which I will translate a Tucholsky poem into English, staying as near as possible to the original, while David will work out a further translation or impression based on my version, and the form of the original. In other words, I will translate into English - David will translate into poetry.

Already the German language blogosphere has taken kind notice of our intention, with a report and well-wishes at the Kurt Tucholsky Weblog written by Friedhelm Greis, a member of the board of directors of the official Kurt Tucholsky Society.

6 comments:

The Mushroom said...: I knew we exported you from the States for a reason, Indie. Heh, best of luck and congrats!; 7:24 PM, January 05, 2006
~Nitoo Das~ said...: Sounds very interesting, Indie. All the best. You guys get to do the hard work and we get to read wonderful poetry. YAY!; 2:20 AM, January 06, 2006
Indeterminacy said...: Honestly, I think David has the really hard work. I just have to work out a literal translation, maybe think twice about a difficult passage, but at least the task is directed specifically by the poem I'm looking at. David has more decisions to make, more interpretation because of trying to get to Tucholsky's original meaning with only my input, and the form/meter/rhythm of the original, whose meaning he can basically only guess at, despite help from babelfish. I'm becoming aware when I translate that there are many ways to say what Tucholsky said - in German - so I ask myself, why did he choose exactly those words, and not another phrase that would have done just as well. That's how I make the decision on which English phrase to select.; 5:33 AM, January 06, 2006
Doug The Una said...: You're a good man, Charlie Brown. I appreciate your dedication to underappreciated writers.; 1:32 PM, January 06, 2006
Ariel the Thief said...: this is an exciting project.; 2:50 PM, January 08, 2006
Cori said...: Neat-o!; 2:19 PM, January 10, 2006