Posts filed under 'Dante'

Weekly Dispatches From the Front Lines of World Literature

April 16, 2021  |  in Dispatches, News, Weekly Roundup  |  by Charlie Ng, Eva Wissting, and Kwan Ann Tan

The latest news from Hong Kong, Sweden, and Malaysia!

This week, our writers bring you the latest news from Hong Kong, Sweden, and Malaysia. In Hong Kong, a commemoration of the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death and Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine talks are some of the live events that have started taking place again; in Sweden, Axel Lindén was awarded the Aftonbladet annual literary award; and in Malaysia, Catherine Menon’s debut novel, Fragile Monsters, has been released in English translation, while the Malaysian Poetry Writing Fortnight (MPWF) has been launched. Read on to find out more! 

Charlie Ng, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Hong Kong

As the fourth wave of the COVID-19 outbreak slows in Hong Kong, cultural and literary activities have begun to return to live venues. Local bilingual poetry magazine Voice & Verse Poetry Magazine organised a poetry talk on the theme of wine, titled “If Our Poetry is Wine” on April 10 in Lai Chi Kok. Poet Chan Li-choi and translator Ko Chung-man were invited to share their views on poetry and wine. Participants could enjoy wine together with the guests to celebrate the inspirations endowed by Dionysus.

Hong Kong’s Dante Alighieri Society hosted three sessions of “Dante Alighieri Flash Readings” to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the death of the great Italian poet. Italian actress Nicole Garbellini and local actor Marc Ngan were invited to give lectures on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, covering the three cantiche: Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno. The events took place at landmarks of the Central and Western District, and Causeway Bay to engage the public in the appreciation of the famous medieval poet.

From March 2 to April 14 artist Michael Leung’s exhibition “Publishing (To Find Each Other)” was open to the public at the Floating Projects in Wong Chuk Hang. The interdisciplinary exhibition explores the themes of publication and storytelling. Throughout March, Michael Leung also hosted sessions to discuss his experience of hybrid publishing with the audience. Workshops were held by the artist to produce zines with participants.

As well as face-to-face events, going online is still a popular way to stay connected with the public however. Local arts centre MILL6 Foundation is organising an online discussion forum, “Poetic Emergences: Organisation through Textile and Code,” to explore cross-boundary aspects of textile and weaving, including technology, art-making, and social mediation.

Eva Wissting, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Sweden

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet has announced that its annual literary award will go to Axel Lindén this year. Lindén’s first book, Fårdagboken, was published in 2017 and translated into English by Frank Perry as Counting Sheep: Reflections and Observations of a Swedish Shepherd in 2018 (Atria Books). It was followed up in 2020 by Tillstånd, with the English title Every Other Pine, Every Other Fir. The jury’s motivation is that Lindén’s authorship “takes on the largest questions of our time by turning away from the center and all literary salons, towards the rural areas, the animals, the forest, and the self-doubt.” READ MORE…

What’s New In Translation: February 2018

February 5, 2018  |  in New in Translation, News, Reviews  |  by Barbara Halla, Jessie Stoolman, and Lara Norgaard

The books from Albania and Latin and Central America hitting shelves this month.

For many of us, this month will be either the coldest or the hottest of the year; luckily, the books we’re focusing on this February are resilient and long-lasting—featuring new titles from Albania all the way to Latin and Central America. 

F-1510798924-Blood-Barrios

Blood Barrios by Alberto Arce, translated from the Spanish by John Washington and Daniela Ugaz, Zed Books

Reviewed by Jessie Stoolman, Editor-at-Large for Tunisia

Blood Barrios, Alberto Arce’s account of his diverse experiences as the only foreign journalist inside Honduras between 2012 and 2014, gives a platform to voices inside this small Central American country that are seldom heard. From deep within the Mosquitia jungle, where Arce investigated possible American involvement in massacring innocent civilians, to an overcrowded prison farm where over 350 people died in a fire, he makes “[t]he privileges of a foreigner” in Honduras “his obligations,” asking questions that others cannot.

READ MORE…

“Tu vuo fa’ l’americano”

August 22, 2016  |  in Essays  |  by Jeanne Bonner

If Italy were my child, I’d fear he was unable to properly love his own identity.

My partner travels a lot for work and whenever he goes somewhere that he can snag Italian pubs, he brings me back an armload. Usually two editions of an Italian newspaper (La Repubblica and Il Corriere della Sera), one or two of the news weeklies and a lifestyle or travel mag like Bell’Italia.

I array them all on the dining table and prepare to immerse myself in an Italian mag reading marathon. It’s a ritual we’ve been performing ever since leaving Italy years ago to come back to the States.

Yet in the past few years, there’s been a fly in my spaghetti, so to speak. My beloved Italian periodicals are littered with English words and phrases. That complaint can extend to many of the news articles I see online or in my inbox on a more-or-less daily basis.

Recently, a promotional email from the Italian women’s magazine “Io Donna” about an article on swimwear caught my eye (I love swimming). The email read, “4 accessori must have per la spiaggia.” (Four “must-have” accessories for the beach).

Something snapped—and I began writing this essay. Or really, this rant. It’s one I’ve been honing in my head, if one can hone a rant, for years. I’ve held off on sending this thought out into the wider world because it somehow felt churlish, as if I were a Luddite.

At first blush, the complaint has nothing to do with the literary world or the world of literature in translation that Asymptote celebrates and chronicles. An ad for swimwear: of all the silly things to write about!

But who learns a foreign language only to read, say, Dante? I want to read Dante and the Italian newspaper and the weeklies and advertisements on the Metro and the underground comic books and so on. I want to know the Italian equivalent of “must have.” READ MORE…