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Lavish Absence: Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès
An intimate portrait of one of France's most important writers by his translator.
Edmond Jabès (1912-1991) is widely regarded as one of France's most important writers of the 20th century. Born in Cairo, he settled in France after being expelled from Egypt with other Jews during the 1956 Suez Crisis. Rosmarie Waldrop is Jabès's primary English translator. Over the course of her long association and friendship with Jabès, Waldrop developed a very nuanced understanding of his work that in turn influenced her development as both writer and translator. Lavish Absence is a book-length essay with a triple it is a memoir of Jabès as Waldrop knew him, it is both an homage to and an explication of Jabès's work, and it is a meditation on the process of translation. The writing interweaves these topics, evoking Jabès's own interest in the themes of exile and nomadism.
Edmond Jabès (1912-1991) is widely regarded as one of France's most important writers of the 20th century. Born in Cairo, he settled in France after being expelled from Egypt with other Jews during the 1956 Suez Crisis. Rosmarie Waldrop is Jabès's primary English translator. Over the course of her long association and friendship with Jabès, Waldrop developed a very nuanced understanding of his work that in turn influenced her development as both writer and translator. Lavish Absence is a book-length essay with a triple it is a memoir of Jabès as Waldrop knew him, it is both an homage to and an explication of Jabès's work, and it is a meditation on the process of translation. The writing interweaves these topics, evoking Jabès's own interest in the themes of exile and nomadism.
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 2, 2003
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About the author
Rosmarie Waldrop
96 books61 followersRosmarie Waldrop (born August 24, 1935), née Sebald, is a contemporary American poet, translator and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958. She has lived in Providence, Rhode Island since the late 1960s. Waldrop is coeditor and publisher of Burning Deck Press, as well as the author or coauthor (as of 2006) of 17 books of poetry, two novels, and three books of criticism.
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June 5, 2013
"If we say 'I' we already say difference" (4). So many kinds of love are made in this book: Waldrop's relationship with Jabes, Jabes as human and as writer, the marriage of Keith and Rosemarie, the translator as great appreciator. This book is a new favorite. As elegy, translation theory, and an introduction to Jabes's work.
"The slopes of the mountains can still get some sun when the valley is already dark. But it is less warm. I reared Edmond Jabes's body of work. But the real body is no more" (113).
"The slopes of the mountains can still get some sun when the valley is already dark. But it is less warm. I reared Edmond Jabes's body of work. But the real body is no more" (113).
Displaying 1 of 1 review