Currently & Emotion: Translations

by Sophie Collins (Editor)

CURRENTLY & EMOTION is an innovative and extensive anthology of contemporary poetry translations. It presents a varied and carefully curated selection of works which foreground the translator, and, by showcasing a broad range of approaches, seeks to challenge dominant perceptions of translation as an uncomplicated literary service that simply facilitates access to foreign and/or historical texts.

Comprised of 29 extended excerpts from book-or-pamphlet-length translation projects (rather than one-off translations of individual poems), either unpublished or published since 2010, the selection leans towards translations by and from female translators and authors, and towards work that shows awareness of, and that negotiates in interesting ways, the complex power dynamics inherent to every act of translation.

CURRENTLY & EMOTION aims not to provide a definitive thesis on what the process and function of translation should be, but to encourage discussion about its challenges and possibilities, and the complex political and emotional issues with which it unavoidably engages.

In addition to the poems, the anthology includes extended introductory material by Sophie Collins, a preface by Erin Moure and an afterword by Zoe Skoulding. The excerpts are accompanied by short contextualising notes based on discussions with the translators and (where possible) the authors of the source texts.

Contributors include: Christian Hawkey, Georg Trakl, Don Mee Choi, Caroline Bergvall, Lisa Robertson, Sawako Nakayasu, Sagawa Chika, Erin Moure, Chus Pato, Molly Weigel, Jorge Santiago Perednik, Holly Pester, Sonja Kravanja, Toma alamun, Rosmarie Waldrop, Elfriede Czurda, Chantal Wright, Yoko Tawada, Zoe Skoulding, Rachael Allen, Linh Dinh, Mien Dang, Nguyen Quoc Chanh, Sandra Doller, Eric Suchere, Khairani Barokka, Brian Henry, Catherine Petit & Paul Buck, Colette Thomas, Anne Carson, Tara Bergin, Lawrence Venuti, J. V. Foix, Oli Hazzard, Vahni Capildeo, Hilary Kaplan, Angelica Freitas, Eliza Griswold, Karen Van Dyck, Uljana Wolf and Sophie Seita.

Genres: Poetry

352 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2016

About the author

Sophie Collins grew up in Bergen, North Holland, and now lives in Glasgow. She is the author of Who Is Mary Sue? (Faber, 2018) and small white monkeys (Book Works, 2017), and translator of The Following Scan Will Last Five Minutes by Lieke Marsman (Pavilion, 2019). She is a lecturer at the University of Glasgow. Sophie was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Trust Award in 2016.

Reviews

[S P · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not aware of another contemporary English-language anthology dedicated solely to poetry in (experimental and avant-garde) translation whilst also broadening the scope of translation theory? This expansive, stimulating book takes a wide lens at various types of (de)translation. The authors, languages, translators, source texts are varied and there is plenty here to get lost in and inspired by; the editorial curation is careful and attentive. (Although, as always, there could have been more writers and translators of colour, more minority languages, better representation. Sadly, I think there are no Black writers included? The book also skews a little more towards English-language poetry than I think is necessary.) Stand-out translations include Georg Trakl (tr. Christian Hawkey), Sagawa Chika (tr. Sawako Nakayasu), Yoko Tawada (tr. Chantal Wright), Eric Suchere (tr. Sandra Doller). More could have been spent discussing the ethics of translation especially in the case of Eliza Grisworld, who translates Pashto landays, or Holly Pester, who mis-transcribes archival audio recordings of Hurricane Katrina survivors, whilst the fairly heavy inclusion of Linh Dinh now feels quite unfortunate given his abhorrent political views. I sincerely hope a second volume or edition is in the works because this is an incredibly exciting book-project.

[Chengru · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant anthology and introductions, although for an I’d like to see more diversity in source texts (languages used in the source text, for example).

[Mills College Library]

305.4201 C9765 2016