July, 2020 Really Real Dragons (Magazine) By Laia Jufresa | July 10, 2020 In humorous and reflective brief notes, Laia Jufresa records daily life in quarantine in Edinburgh. My daughter is a doctor. A dragon doctor. I know this because she tells me every day, all day long, and has been doing so for a month, ever since the nurseries closed. Her conviction wavers only occasionally, when she asks: Mamá, where can I find a real dragon? She says this in Spanish, but puts the words “real dragon” in the English order: adjective, noun. When she... Machado de Assis Gains Different Voices in New Translations of “Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas” (Book Reviews) By Reviewed by Charles A. Perrone | July 9, 2020 It is not every season that two new translations of a major work of Western literature appear simultaneously, yet that is precisely what has occurred with the 2020 summer catalog and the publication of fresh English-language versions of the Portuguese-language original of Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (1881), by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839–1908). Machado was the founding president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and, more importantly, is widely... First Read: From “Breathing Through the Wound” (WWB Daily) By Víctor del Árbol | July 9, 2020 In Víctor del Árbol's novel Breathing Through the Wound, translated by Lisa Dillman and out this week with Other Press, an artist accepts an unusual commission that pulls him into Madrid's criminal underworld. In the excerpt below, another character narrowly escapes a murder attempt. His last few nights in jail, Arthur could hardly sleep. Every minute of every hour was like a reenactment of those other nights—the terrible... [When I was born my mother] (Magazine) By Giovanna Cristina Vivinetto | July 7, 2020 A gender transition unites a mother and daughter in this poem by Giovanna Cristina Vivinetto. When I was born my mother gave me an ancient gift, the gift of the mystic Tiresias: to change sex once in my life. Even from my first wails she understood that my growth would be a rebellion to come unstuck from my flesh a fratricidal fight between spirit and skin. An annihilation. So she gave me her clothes, her shoes, her lipstick; she said: “Take these, my son, become what you are if... Letter to the Father (Magazine) By Ricardo Domeneck | July 7, 2020 In echoes of the Kafka text from which this poem takes its name, a queer man longs to confront his homophobic father for a lifetime of injury in this poem by Berlin-based writer and artist Ricardo Domeneck. Now that my lord more closely resembles a hunk of meat with two eyes turned toward the dark ceiling from the gurney where likely you will not die alone only because not even able to swallow your saliva yourself in the company of this tube alone that feeds you I ask myself if... In Praise of the Nude Body (Magazine) By Mutsuo Takahashi | July 7, 2020 Mutsuo Takahashi admires the ancient Greeks’ innocence and lack of shame about their bodies in this short poem. In Olympia, young men do not wear a single thread In Pythia, in Isthmia, and in Nemea too In every gymnasium in every small town They’re as naked as the day they were born It’s because they were born this way They’re honest and upright, not the least bit lewd Like the Greek summer sky, Pure and fresh, a model of health itself What made them so obscene... Gifts (Magazine) By Mutsuo Takahashi | July 7, 2020 A man wanders through Tokyo’s gay and lesbian district in this poem by Mutsuo Takahashi. Not lustful Socrates, nor Plato Not Xenophon, just a plain pederast I wandered through the nighttime labyrinth of Ni-Chōme’s1 Athens Sharing with young men encountered there, not dialogues, not sweet nothings Not delirious ravings, just plain hot breath—however The wisdom gathered from those wanderings is far deeper Than that of ancient Greece, or at least, it is filled With far... Post-Op (Magazine) By Mariana Spada | July 7, 2020 After returning home from gender-affirmation surgery, a patient navigates a new existence where the physical and emotional are laid bare in this poem by Mariana Spada. After ten days in the hospital the apartment is a desolate labyrinth a power outage as you shower in the dark gingerly probing at the new parts of your body the gaping wound and novel brush of flesh-folds in the open air. With no false glow to cover it the remnants of the evening disappear and somewhere in between the... Confronting the Institution of Language: Juan Arabia on Poetry and the Pandemic (WWB Daily) By María Agustina Pardini | July 6, 2020 In the essay “The Poem as a Field of Action,” presented as a lecture at the University of Washington in 1948, William Carlos Williams argues that after the Industrial Revolution, a different zeitgeist possessed the world and new values replaced the old ones. A new subject matter manifested itself in the heart of every society as money talked and poets let their minds be invaded by the industrious armamentarium of the modern age. Williams maintains, however, that the poet is... Adania Shibli’s “Minor Detail” Caps Its Author’s Long Quest for a Language of Life Under Occupation (Book Reviews) By Reviewed by Mona Kareem | July 1, 2020 This is the second installment in WWB's new series Close-Up: An Experiment in Reviewing Translation, in which Lily Meyer and Mona Kareem review translated books with a focus on the translation itself. Read more about the series in this interview with Meyer and Kareem, or have a look at the first installment in the series, Meyer's review of Cockfight by María Fernanda Ampuero. When discussing her latest novel, Minor Detail, Palestinian author... 10 Translated Books from India to Read Now (WWB Daily) By Arunava Sinha | July 1, 2020 Almost every time a literary publication in the Western Hemisphere commissions a list of the best novels from India, they turn out to be a compilation of books written in the English language. For reasons of both colonial history—most of India was under the rule of the British Empire, first through the East India Company and then directly for 190 years, from 1757 to 1947—and of a continuous wave of fiction from Indian writers in English since Salman Rushdie's Midnight's... June, 2020 On Masks (Magazine) By Yu Jian | June 26, 2020 In two poems, Yu Jian considers the emotional and physical roles of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Dearest Great facial mask now is the time to tell you that I love you my dearest my little prison take custody of my mouth The Man without a Mask I don’t have a mask when I phone someone for help I behave as if I don’t care dignified expressions like those in first-class cabins on a sinking ship ... The Watchlist: June 2020 (WWB Daily) By Tobias Carroll | June 25, 2020 Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Milkweed Editions | The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag, translated from the German by Katharina Rout | Fiction | 224 pages | ISBN 9781571311399 | US$16.00 What the publisher says: “In the high Altai Mountains of northern Mongolia, the nomadic Tuvan people’s ancient way of life collides with the pervasive influence of... Translating the Ancient Female Voice as Queer (WWB Daily) By Gnaomi Siemens | June 23, 2020 In Gnaomi Siemens's queer translations of Old English poetry, gender becomes fluid and the female voice proliferates. Today on WWB Daily, Siemens discusses how queer translation can amplify silenced voices and subvert the gender binary. A spell can never be disrupted into not being a spell, it just becomes a different one. Poet CAConrad says, “Queer is political.” A two-gender paradigm, like a two-party political system, is inherently... The City and the Writer: In Paris with Marilyn Hacker (WWB Daily) By Nathalie Handal | June 19, 2020 If each city is like a game of chess, the day when I have learned the rules, I shall finally possess my empire, even if I shall never succeed in knowing all the cities it contains. —Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities Can you describe the mood of Paris as you feel/see it? Something is always about to happen, and it somehow always has a history, and a resemblance to something that happened before: whether it’s a general strike, a heat wave, a trial, a football match, the... notes from this city (Magazine) By Carolina Pihelgas | June 19, 2020 Carolina Pihelgas maps a city emptied by coronavirus. notes from this city, which pants around me like a prehistoric beast. its skeleton juts from the riverside brush and the framework of buildings that crop up on the banks, wind flapping in their sheeted windows. its movement is fairly steady and silent, and yet careless, rooftops glinting, trees towering in the parks like obelisks. with each day, the view from the window is increasingly my own gaze, telling me more of what is... The Translator Relay: Kristin Dykstra (WWB Daily) By Words Without Borders | June 17, 2020 WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator every few months. The current month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For June's installment, Urayoán Noel passed the baton to Kristin Dykstra, who translates from Spanish to English. What is your connection to the language(s) you translate from and/or the place(s) where the books... The Right to Identity: The Queer Issue (Magazine) By Susan Harris | June 16, 2020 Pride Month and our annual Queer issue arrive at a time of grief and rage. Already ravaged by the pandemic and the resulting financial devastation, the US erupted in fury over the brutal murder of George Floyd by police, protests which were soon duplicated around the world. As these three crises—health, economic, and racial justice—spur communities to take to the streets and demand action, we are reminded that Pride celebrations themselves grew out of the protests spearheaded by... Elfiye (Magazine) By Nazlı Karabıyıkoğlu | June 16, 2020 A couple takes a drastic step after discovering their daughter’s relationship with another woman in this short story by Nazli Karabiyikoglu. I. Elfiye was planning to invite her friend over at some point, which she more or less had to do, actually. Pelin had lured her into it by asking all those questions about her family, and now she was caught in her trap. Elfiye waited a week, putting Pelin off until the day her stepmother met with her friends to give each other gold. These Gold... The Man with a Thousand Names (Magazine) By R. Joseph Dazo | June 16, 2020 A man’s unusual tattoos attract international attention in this short story by R. Joseph Dazo. The first question most of them ask when they see my skin is “Why?” I often respond with a smile. Sometimes, my face turns hot. I can’t figure out if I’m annoyed or embarrassed. When I try to answer, I stutter, unable to finish a phrase so that they’ll understand. My armpits dampen. My forehead sweats. How I want to say to them, “This is art. This has... Ricardo and Vânia (Magazine) By Chico Felitti | June 16, 2020 In this nonfiction excerpt, Chico Felitti tells the story of two Brazilian makeup artists who became famous for their radically altered appearances. The cemetery in São Bento, Araraquara, has a grave with no name. It’s the second tombstone in the fourth block on the left, if you walk in through the gate by the coconut-water stand. The family of the man buried there can't afford the R$140 (about $30) it takes to have a grave marker installed. But the man whose ashes rest... Eight Meters (Magazine) By Juan Carlos Cortázar | June 16, 2020 A man tries to honor his dead lover’s final wish in this short story by Juan Carlos Cortázar. You went back to him. The last months of his life, that’s how he said it, no embellishment. You went back—a year earlier you’d been the one to leave, you’re a piece of shit, you’d shouted—and the two of you made up. If it were HIV, even, he’d have more of a chance, but with this, no, nothing, a few months and that’s it, he said, and you... Six Musical Moments by Schubert (Magazine) By Natalia Rubanova | June 16, 2020 A queer love triangle revolves around the music of Schubert in this short story by Natalia Rubanova. Intermezzo Annette sneaks: got to be quiet, quiet as a mouse, a mouse! Careless, better to keep to the left, the left, no pillows there—c u r i o u s: is he really sleeping or just pretending, and if he is, God have mercy, again? Annette tries not to think—not to think about that. Annette knows—there, in the silver Honda, decorating the darkness with all... Gay Giant (Graphic Lit) By Gabriel Ebensperger | June 16, 2020 Have you ever had the feeling that even if you wanted to, you’d never blend in? Ha Seong-nan’s “Bluebeard’s First Wife” Gives the Old Tale of Patriarchy a New Twist (Book Reviews) By Reviewed by Hannah Weber | June 15, 2020 An angry lone shooter wanders through the mist into town, bullets clinking. A woman sits bolt upright in the back of a taxi going the wrong way on an unlit road. A detective stumbles through the woods, dodging the searchlights of night poachers. In Ha Seong-nan’s new short story collection, Bluebeard’s First Wife, darkness and fog turn farmers’ fields and city suburbs into places of hidden horrors. These eleven stories use shock and horror to dissect contemporary... Page 1 of 221 pages 1 2 3 > Last ›
