Pomes Penyeach

by James Joyce, Džejms Džojs, Voki Erceg (Translator)

Naslov zbirke „Pomes Penyeach” – treba čitati kao pomes penič – oponaša taj užurban govor trgovaca, ali ne treba zaboraviti, napominje francuski prevodilac Žak Borel, i „da su sve pijace ovog sveta pune slovnih grešaka”! S rečju „poems” Džojs je izveo anagramsku igru, brz ali efektan trik, pretvorivši pesme u „pomes” (starofrancuska reč za jabuke), a dve reči „penny each”, približavajući ih ali i izbacujući slovo – n – pretvorio je u jednu, čime je otvorio prostor i uveo čitaoca da sam domaštava, pa i da po svojoj volji načini naslov:
Poems penny each: pesme svaka za peni; pomes penny each: jabuke svaka za peni; poems pain each: pesme bol svaka; poems pen-is ache ilipoems penis each itd.
Da bi se čitalac na neposredan način približio pesnikovoj nameri, treba zamisliti da je Džojs ovu knjigu tretirao kao zbirku od dvanaest pesama(zbirka se prodavala po ceni jednog šilinga, dvanaest penija, odnosno dvanaest franaka) i da je trinaesta pesma (u originalu „Tilly”) – trgovački pride, gratis na ukupnu ponuđenu (ili prodatu količinu), prema običaju irskih mlekadžija da mušterijama dospu dodatnu količinu mleka u posudu (irski: „tuilleadh”), običaj sličan engleskim pekarima da u tuce („baker‘s dozen”), koji se sastoji od dvanaest vekni, kao dodatak po pravilu dodaju trinaestu.

Genres: Poetry

102 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 1927

About the author

James Joyce was an Irish novelist, poet, and a pivotal figure in 20th-century modernist literature, renowned for his highly experimental approach to language and narrative structure, particularly his pioneering mastery and popularization of the stream-of-consciousness technique. Born into a middle-class Catholic family in the Rathgar suburb of Dublin in 1882, Joyce spent the majority of his adult life in self-imposed exile across continental Europe—living in Trieste, Zurich, and Paris—yet his entire, meticulous body of work remained obsessively and comprehensively focused on the minutiae of his native city, making Dublin both the meticulously detailed setting and a central, inescapable character in his literary universe. His work is consistently characterized by its technical complexity, rich literary allusion, intricate symbolism, and an unflinching examination of the spectrum of human consciousness. Joyce began his published career with Dubliners (1914), a collection of fifteen short stories offering a naturalistic, often stark, depiction of middle-class Irish life and the moral and spiritual paralysis he observed in its inhabitants, concluding each story with a moment of crucial, sudden self-understanding he termed an "epiphany." This collection was followed by the highly autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), a Bildungsroman that meticulously chronicled the intellectual and artistic awakening of its protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who would become Joyce's recurring alter ego and intellectual stand-in throughout his major works.
His magnum opus, Ulysses (1922), is universally regarded as a landmark work of fiction that fundamentally revolutionized the novel form. It compressed the events of a single, ordinary day—June 16, 1904, a date now globally celebrated by literary enthusiasts as "Bloomsday"—into a sprawling, epic narrative that structurally and symbolically paralleled Homer's Odyssey, using a dazzling array of distinct styles and linguistic invention across its eighteen episodes to explore the lives of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom, and Stephen Dedalus in hyper-minute detail. The novel's explicit content and innovative, challenging structure led to its initial banning for obscenity in the United States and the United Kingdom, turning Joyce into a cause célèbre for artistic freedom and the boundaries of literary expression. His final, most challenging work, Finnegans Wake (1939), pushed the boundaries of language and conventional narrative even further, employing a dense, dream-like prose filled with multilingual puns, invented portmanteau words, and layered allusions that continues to divide and challenge readers and scholars to this day. A dedicated polyglot who reportedly learned several languages, including Norwegian simply to read Ibsen in the original, Joyce approached the English language not as a fixed entity with rigid rules, but as a malleable medium capable of infinite reinvention and expression. His personal life was marked by an unwavering dedication to his literary craft, a complex, devoted relationship with his wife Nora Barnacle, and chronic, debilitating eye problems that necessitated numerous painful surgeries throughout his life, sometimes forcing him to write with crayons on large white paper. Despite these severe physical ailments and financial struggles, his singular literary vision remained sharp, focused, and profoundly revolutionary. Joyce passed away in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1941, shortly after undergoing one of his many eye operations. Today, he is widely regarded as perhaps the most significant and challenging writer of the 20th century. His immense, complex legacy is robustly maintained by global academic study and institutions such as the James Joyce Centre in Dublin, which ensures his complex, demanding, and utterly brilliant work endures, inviting new generations of readers to explore the very essence of what it means to be hum

Reviews

[Krsto Knežević · Rating 4 out of 5]

Možda nikada nisam pretjerano bio upućen u poeziju niti mogao pojedine pjesnike i njihova djela posebno uvijek da razumijem, ali čak i mom laičkom oku se genijalna zbirka od svega trinaest pjesama (ali s razlogom trinaest) neizmjerno dopala. Pogotovo je zadovoljstvo bilo čitati ove vrlo prisne i britke pjesme u njihovom originalnom obliku, kako ih je Joyce sastavio. Urbenesni komentari i kompetentni prijevodi Vokija Ercega su dodatno upotpunili dojam i prilagodili pojedine meni apstraktne momente i čitavu zbirku stavili u kontekst Joyceovog života i namjere.

[Lisa of Troy]

Part of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s personal library according to Scott Fitzgerald: Romantic and Realist by John Richard Kuehl 1958
*These were books NOT given to Princeton. They were returned to Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald’s daughter, France Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan

[Tyrone_Slothrop (ex-MB) · Rating 3 out of 5]

la musica di Joyce

poche pagine per tredici poesie di Joyce: non moltissimo, ma abbastanza per rendersi conto di come fosse rilevante (direi, essenziale) la musicalità nella scrittura del genio di Dublino - in moltissimi versi è impossibile non sentire riecheggiare la pagine delle sue celeberrime opere in prosa.

Rain on Rahoon falls softly, softly falling

e la mente viaggia subito all'immensa chiusa finale di "The Dead" in Dubliners

a senile sea numbers each single
slimesilvered stone

un prodigio di allitterazioni in una poesia (On the Beach at Fontana) che sembra riportarci davanti alle rocciose coste di Trieste (o di Dublino)

a waste of waters ruthlessly
sways and uplifts its weedy mane

e siamo riportati sulla costa di Sandycove quando la marea risale verso Stephan Dedalus nel suo peregrinare nel capitolo Proteo di Ulysses

[Jorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poemario muy cortito pero con unos poemas que destacan por su ritmo y musicalidad, algo que ya reconoció Ezra Pound en su época. A pesar de su brevedad, el poemario toca todos los palos. Vemos como habla del amor, el sarcasmo, el temor, la tragedia y tenemos versos más ligeros que rozan la comedia. Su lírica ora es directa y sencilla, ora asombrosamente experimental. Un hermoso recordatorio del talento de Joyce como poeta y novelista.

«Frail the white rose and frail are
Her hand that gave
Whose soul in sere and paler
Than time's wan wave.

Rosefrail and fair - yet frailest
A wonder wild
In gentle eyes thou veilest,
My blueveined child.»

Por cierto, cabe remarcar el hecho de que mi edición bilingüe francesa me haya salido por 3,20€ (con su comentario de la obra) mientras que la edición española te clavan 12 mortadelos.
Je ne suis plus espagnol; je me considère comme un citoyen loyal de la République française.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have arranged my takeaway thought into a haiku as best as I could:

"Penny each, plus one.
There’s nuance to weariness
Built up in the soul."

[Mario · Rating 3 out of 5]

شعر تیلی با اختلاف از 12 تای دیگر بهتر بود

[Gregorio]

“[…]
Pluck forth your heart, saltblood, a fruit of tears,
Pluck and devour!”

[adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this the same Joyce?

[Cain Perchans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A teensy eeeny wee bit bland, but a great little ten-minute read that fulfills my James Joyce needs.