Against Translation

by Alan Shapiro

We often ask ourselves what gets lost in translation—not just between languages, but in the everyday trade-offs between what we experience and what we are able to say about it. But the visionary poems of this collection invite us to what is loss , in translation? Writing at the limits of language—where “the signs loosen, fray, and drift”—Alan Shapiro probes the startling complexity of how we confront absence and the ephemeral, the heartbreak of what once wasn’t yet and now is no longer, of what (like racial prejudice and historical atrocity) is omnipresent and elusive. Through poems that are fine-grained and often quiet, Shapiro tells of subtle a young boy is shamed for the first time for looking “girly”; an ailing old man struggles to visit his wife in a nursing home; or a woman dying of cancer watches her friends enjoy themselves in her absence. Throughout, this collection traverses rather than condemns the imperfect language of loss—moving against the current in the direction of the utterly ineffable.

Genres: Poetry

106 pages, Paperback

Published March 8, 2019

About the author

Alan Shapiro (born 1952) is an American poet and professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of nine poetry books, including Tantalus in Love, Song and Dance, and The Dead Alive and Busy.

In addition to poetry, Alan Shapiro has also published two personal memoirs, Vigil and The Last Happy Occasion.
(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘outcast’ was by far the standout. everything else was kinda… meh? prose poetry that was more like paragraphs in a diary, offering little commentary other than simply presenting a sad, regret filled scenario and saying “well isn’t that sad!”.

[Katie Mihalek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shapiro is a master of the sentence in these poems. Absolutely gut wrenching; I found myself reading a single poem over and over again to fully absorb these moments that truly surpassed translation.

[Kory Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this collection. Many of the the poems (perhaps most?) are closer to short stories written in prose and formatted as a single long paragraph. That is not to take away the poetic power of them- many of them left me with cloudy eyes; I felt like Shapiro was speaking FOR me; so many of them are so vivid and rich; by the end, it caused me to consider the ontology of what makes "minimalist short story" and a "poem." Beautifully rendered little gems, meditations on life, death, dying, loss of family and friends, growing up, etc. My only criticism would be that I wished Shapiro had a little more variety on the subject matter. However, this is my first book of Shapiro's and I'll certainly be looking for more!

[Jess]

DNF. There were some great moments but not enough to keep going.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/31

Loved the first half. Lost some steam thereafter.

[Vanessa Wolosz · Rating 4 out of 5]

damn this guy can turn a fucking phrase!!!