Other Worlds Than This
176 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
Paperback
Release Date:01 Apr 1994
ISBN:9780813520681
Good translators must somehow avoid the dangers of mere literalism on the one hand and creative embellishments on the other. Hadas has succeeded admirably by offering rhythmical and accurate translations of a wide variety of texts by Tibullus, Seneca, Hugo, Baudelaire, Mallarme, Rimbaud, LaForgue, Valery, and the modern Greek poet Konstantine Karyotakis, among others. Nostalgia, ennui, melancholy, and grief are the dominant tones of these poems, which speak poignantly of love lost and the inexorable passage of time. Hadas often finds a contemporary phrase to formulate an older writer's meaning. Thus, Tibullus can say that love protects him from "the switchblade knife" while LaForgue is "suddenly zapped by lightning." Some readers may miss the presence of en face texts in the original languages, but the author's assertion that she did this work purely "for the pleasure" is apparent throughout. Recommended for larger collections.
- Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill.
- Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill.
Good translators must somehow avoid the dangers of mere literalism on the one hand and creative embellishments on the other. Hadas has succeeded admirably by offering rhythmical and accurate translations of a wide variety of texts by Tibullus, Seneca, Hugo, Baudelaire, Mallarme, Rimbaud, LaForgue, Valery, and the modern Greek poet Konstantine Karyotakis, among others. Nostalgia, ennui, melancholy, and grief are the dominant tones of these poems, which speak poignantly of love lost and the inexorable passage of time. Hadas often finds a contemporary phrase to formulate an older writer's meaning. Thus, Tibullus can say that love protects him from 'the switchblade knife' while LaForgue is 'suddenly zapped by lightning.' Some readers may miss the presence of en face texts in the original languages, but the author's assertion that she did this work purely 'for the pleasure' is apparent throughout. Recommended for larger collections.
- Daniel L. Guillory, Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill.
Rachel Hadas is an American poet, teacher, essayist, and translator. Her most recent essay collection is Piece by Piece: Selected Prose (Paul Dry Books, 2021), and her most recent poetry collection is Love and Dread (Measure Press Inc., 2021). Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Ingram Merrill Foundation Grants, the O.B. Hardison Award from the Folger Shakespeare Library, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Tibullus (48-19 BCE)
I.i ("Divitias allius ... ")
I.ii ("Adde merum vinoque . . .")
I.vi ("Semper, ut inducar . . .")
I.x ("Quis fuit horrendos . . .")
Seneca (4-65 CE)
Selections from The Tragedy of Oedipus
Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
At Dawn Tomorrow
June Nights
From "Contemplations"
Boaz Asleep
Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867)
Sonnet in Autumn
The Fountain of Blood
Romantic Sunset
Retreat
A Taste for Nothingness
Dialogue
Misty Sky
The Offended Moon
The Self-Tormentor
Song in Autumn
The Jewels
Voyage to Cythera
The Swan
To a Passing Lady
The Sun
The Promises of a Face
The Voice
Invitation to a Journey
The Vampire's Metamorphoses
The Hair
Blessing
Beauty
Lethe
Don Juan in Hell
Blind Men
Posthumous Remorse
"Her Garments' Iridescent Undulation ..."
The Owls
Carrion
The Seven Old Men
The Voyage
Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898)
Anguish
Summer Sadness
Apparition. Windows
Another Fan of Mlle Mallarme
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)
Memory
Poets at Seven
Ophelia
Jules LaForgue (1860-1887)
A Flash over the Abyss
Winter Sunset
Paul Valery (1871-1945)
Aurora
The Friendly Wood
Helen
Pomegranates
Konstantine Karyotakis (1896-1928)
Spirochaeta Pallida
Ode to a Young Child
Justification
Ideal Suicides
Military March
Precautions
Clerical Workers
Invocation
Autumn, What Can I Say to You?
I Am the Garden
Posthumous Fame
Final Journey
How Young
The Moon Tonight
Preveza
