corresp. from pdx to barcelona via pdx
ll julio,, 2005
Dear X___,
Twas good to meet yz at W___'s gallery show on Wednesday & again at S___'s W____ A_____ show on Friday.
(Sorry I had to duck out early Friday, but I had lots of work to do this wk-end.)
We had discussed the possibility of yr translating work by Catalan writers -- either contemporary, ahora, or 20th century writers. (Also, Sabrina sd that y're a writer, so I wld be glad to see any
of yr own work which y've translated into English.) We have been publishing lots of Croatian work, including a series of essays on the 20th Century thru a Rear-View Mirror, on such topics as the Automobile, Baader-Meinhof Gang & the Summer of 77, Lenin-Dada, Coca-Cola, & etc. (There are also 33 more essays from that Croatian collection,
so should our magazine continue, we will have plenty to say about certain aspects of the 20th C. (from a Balkan perspective).
Also, we've printed new translations of Petronius, a translation of a Machado poem by Walt Curtis, translations by Doug Spangle of a few 18th century poems by the German poet Holderlin, some very important writing by Luisa Valenzuela from the 1970s which has mostly not appeared in English (there are 30 or so self-contained sections from a novel, & only 4 or 5 had been translated & appeared, & we have done 8 more, & are working with another publisher to get her book published bilingually), & some stories by the Czech writer which were written in the 1920s & 1930s, so we are very open as to chronology.
What I see as very useful, if possible, wld be to feature some older pces, showing an evolution of Catalan thought & culture during the 20th century & its opposition to -- & suppression by -- the Franco regime. It must also be remembered that writing illuminating a commonplace from a different perspective -- brings a spark of the marvelous to the most quotidian thing -- can also be very important -- Bertold Brecht notwithstanding.
I was going to bring a few issues for you, but I forgot; Sabrina & Navid have some, & there are back issues at Looking Glass Books on 3rd & Alder....
I wld love to get together with you for some coffee some time in the nxt wk or two & we can discuss this further.
yr obdt svt
rvb / Gobshite Quarterly / rvb, editor / P.O. Box 11346 / PDX OR 97211-0346
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