Landmarks

by Susan Bernofsky (Editor), Christopher Merrill (Editor), Pierre Mertens (Contributor)

The premiere anthology of international literature returns for its 20th anniversary with a jam-packed volume headlined by a collection of writing dedicated to the Arab Spring. Coedited by Susan Bernofsky, one of America’s leading translators, and Christopher Merrill, a celebrated poet and translator, this new volume of TWO LINES showcases both prominent international writers and the voices of tomorrow. Each volume publishes writing from over 20 different languages, letting readers make connections between the wealth of amazing writing being produced around the world. This 20th volume includes a special section collecting vital new writing from the Middle East that comments on the momentous events during the Arab Spring of 2010. These suspenseful, inspiring, tragic, and at times even humorous pieces give the American reader an opportunity to better understand the region in which these astonishing events took place, offering essential cultural context and ensuring that the import of the Arab Spring is truly understood.

312 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2013

About the author

Susan Bernofsky’s literary translations include seven works of fiction by the great Swiss-German modernist author Robert Walser, as well as novels and poetry by Jenny Erpenbeck, Yoko Tawada, Gregor von Rezzori, Uljana Wolf and others. She chairs the PEN Translation Committee and is co-editor (with Esther Allen) of the 2013 Columbia University Press anthology In Translation: Translators on Their Work and What It Means. She received the 2006 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translation Prize and the 2012 Calw Hermann Hesse Translation Prize as well as awards and fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the PEN Translation Fund, the NEA, the NEH, the Leon Levy Center for Biography and the Lannan Foundation. Her translation of Jeremias Gotthelf's classic tale of horror, The Black Spider, was published in 2013 by New York Review Books Classics, and her new translation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis is forthcoming from Norton in January 2014. She blogs about translation at www.translationista.org

Reviews

[Fadillah · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I wonder who will
Carry the safety our parents gave to us
So we can go forward in the world renewed
As they lie in their graves
Who can offer a bridge and a door to the ancestors
So they might cross over the mix of blood and exile to their children,
to teach them the sacred text,
To call them home …”
- Five songs for Something Forgotten by Ahmed Abdle Mu’ti Hijazi
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I only knew about 2 lines press after i bought this book. They are specialising in translating great literature from around the world which i think is a noble quest. There are so many non-english literature that have yet to be explored and waiting to be translated. The book titled is Landmarks and has featured many great authors - among them are Scholastique mukasonga, Juan Jose Saer and Mona Elnamoury . The topic range of short stories and poetry featured in the book is quite diverse from Pre-rwanda massacre, the exile of Xinjiang people, the extramarital affairs of a female poet with the married man, the guilt of the wife killer and so on. The countries featured in the book also is quite vary from Bolivia, Turkistan, China, Russia , Iraq and Germany. We readers sometimes often don’t paid enough credit to the translator but this book insert few pages before the translated literature which they used it to explain details of what this short story/poem is all about and the process of translating it. Some admit that it was tedious and almost impossible to find the literal word in english to fit best with the original content. Some still trying to maintain the rhythm and rhyme that resembles the most with the product. I find the description from the translators in the book is helpful and to certain extent it give some sort of preparation to let readers about to read especially in comprehending poetry. Overall, an enjoyable book. In term of the stories and poems altogether, there are some hard hitting work and some are simply forgettable (in this case, its not the story was not good, sometimes i am not in the right space or emotion to read it). It can be too abstract or hanging without conclusive end but I am still glad i found this book in a bargain deal in a local
bookstore.
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I have rated these 5 stories and poems as my favorite simply because the story or the theme touched me deeply or simply it is memorable that it lingers even after i finished this book.
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5 Favorite Stories :
1. Petty Thefts by Taleb Alrefai (Kuwait) - translated by Ngwah-Mbo Nana Nkweti
2. Andrejs’s religion by Inga Abele (Latvia) - translated by Kaija Straumanis
3. The Fear by Scholastique Mukasonga (Rwanda) - translated by Lara Vergnaud
4. The Dark by Sergio Chejfec (Argentina) - translated by Heather Cleary
5. The House by Paigham Afaqui (India) - Translated Matt Reeck
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5 Favorite poems :
1. Dwlling in the warmth of other moons by Ahmatjan Osman (Xinjiang, China) - Translated by Jeffrey Yang
2. Dayplaces by Naseer Hassan (Iraq) - Translated by John Davis
3. Two Poems by Ana Martin Marquez (Brazil) - Translated by Julia Sanches
4. Survivors by Pavel Srut (Czech Republic) - Translated by Deborah Garfinkle
5. Five songs for Something Forgotten by Ahmed Abdle Mu’ti Hijazi (Egypt) - Translated by Omnia Amin and Rick London

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine collection of poetry and short stories by writers from around the world.