Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature

Preface

2024-10-30T17:55:23-04:00

We are delighted to introduce the latest issue of Delos, with Gabriele Belletti stepping in as the new Editor-in-Chief. This transition ensures continuity, as Benjamin Hebblethwaite, our former Editor-in-Chief, will remain as Coeditor, bringing his dedication and infectious enthusiasm to the role. Our journal continues to blend academic rigor with a welcoming spirit of innovation. This rigor is maintained through double peer-reviewed contributions, complemented by comprehensive introductions and critical analyses and thanks to teamwork in collaboration with the Managing Editor, Richard Gray, the Journals Manager Lauren Phillips, and the entire University of Florida Press. Innovation is reflected in our embrace of diverse cultures and languages, as well as various modes of translation across poetry, prose, and other artistic forms, fostering a welcoming attitude towards different perspectives.

La sorella dell'Ave

2024-03-28T15:27:46-04:00

This article seeks to give visibility in the Anglophone world to poet Ludovica Ripa di Meana (Rome, 1933–), a writer who has inhabited the twentieth and twenty-first century of Italian culture with a uniquely multifaceted presence. The author of three novels in verse and several works for the stage (in addition to a long career as a journalist, in TV and film production), Ripa di Meana’s poetic work has won prizes and drawn praise from critics like Cesare Segre and Cesare Garboli. At the same time, she remains relatively unknown in Italy and abroad—certainly not as well-known as her unique voice and style deserve.

The interview and selected translation we present here bring attention to Ripa Di Meana’s poetry and personality in an international perspective. We include the interview with Ludovica that Jess Beasley and Silvia Valisa conducted in January and February 2024, together with excerpts from her first novel in verse, La sorella dell’Ave—The Story of Two Sisters (that is being currently cotranslated by Beasley and Valisa), with the goal of making her unique voice accessible to an Anglophone audience for the first time.

Orientalizing the East

2023-11-06T00:10:49-05:00

This paper critically examines Coleman Barks’ translations of Rumi’s poetry, focusing on the cultural and religious fidelity of his interpretations. It questions whether Barks’ Americanized versions do justice to the original texts or if they dilute the essence of Rumi’s work, exploring the impacts on the cultural and religious nuances of the poetry. Through comparative analysis, it is argued that Barks’ translations often strip Rumi’s verses of their Islamic context and Persian cultural roots, aiming for a universal appeal at the expense of authenticity. Key examples demonstrate Barks’ tendency to omit or alter religious references, thereby reshaping Rumi’s intent and the cultural significance of his work. This inquiry delves into the broader implications of such translation practices, suggesting a form of spiritual and literary colonialism that privileges Western perspectives while marginalizing the source culture’s scholarship and religious depth. The paper calls into question the ethical and cultural responsibilities of translators in handling works deeply embedded in religious and cultural identities.

Three Weaving Songs

2024-10-31T17:45:05-04:00

The weaving song (chanson de toile) is a genre of medieval French lyric poetry that takes its name from a dramatic situation that it frequently represents: a young noblewoman weaving (or spinning, or embroidering) in her room and thinking of her absent love. In nearly all of the twenty or so surviving examples, the story has a happy ending: the woman’s love appears and they are able to overcome some sort of obstacle and live happily ever after. (In the sole exception, the woman learns that her lover has been killed in a joust and retires to found an abbey.)

Word, Sound, Image

2024-11-01T10:33:05-04:00

One of Poland’s leading literary figures, Grzegorz Wróblewski was born in Gdańsk in 1962, grew up in Warsaw, and moved to Copenhagen in 1985. Described by Marjorie Perloff as “the true poetic chronicler of our 21st century diaspora in all its absurdities and anxieties,”2 Wróblewski has published dozens of volumes of poetry, prose, and drama in Poland, as well as several books in Denmark and other countries. Active in the contemporary music scene, he has collaborated with several performers and musicians based in Europe, including Olga Magieres, Bobi Peru, Paweł “Kelner” Rozwadowski, and the punk rock band Deuter. As a visual artist, he has exhibited his paintings in various galleries in Denmark, Germany, England, and Poland. Exceptionally prolific and versatile, Wróblewski is no stranger to Anglophone readers. English translations of his poetry appear in several volumes, including my translations Kopenhaga (Zephyr Press, 2013), Zero Visibility (Phoneme Media/Deep Vellum, 2017), and Dear Beloved Humans: Selected Poems (Diálogos Books, 2023).

Tre poesie

2024-11-01T11:16:41-04:00

Tre poesie
Three Poems by Mariano Bàino
Translated by Gianluca Rizzo and Dominic Siracusa

Il nodo della storia. Appunti sul tradurre poesia

2024-11-01T11:42:50-04:00

After a few reflections on translating, I make a distinction between translating prose and poetry and consider the problem of rhyme. I then present some examples of my work as a translator of German lyric poetry with translations from Nietzsche, Benn and two contemporary poets a generation apart, Enzensberger and Grünbein. Finally, I go back two centuries to consider a play by Kleist, which sounds very dated and raises the problem of how to translate verse drama for today’s audience.

The Helmet

2024-10-03T16:32:19-04:00

In The General of the Dead Army (1963), Ismail Kadare narrates, in fictional form, a search for the bones/remains of Italian soldiers killed near Albania’s southern border during Italy’s invasion of Greece during WWII. They lie in quickly constructed mass graves at the sites of battle. In Kadare’s novel, an Italian general has the burdensome task of finding these remains; without adequate records of identification, he discovers to his frustration that the ‘bones” he finds overlap with those of other nations’ soldiers. But the families
in Italy want the bones back home. Finding a WWII Italian Army helmet at a street market, collected by a veteran of the Balkan wars near where the battles were fought, I am inspired to connect Kadare’s story to the real-life repatriation of Italian soldiers back to Italy in the early 1960s. Traveling through the southern Albanian mountains to locate the soldier of the helmet’s possible resting place, I discover, as does Kadare’s general, the absurd confusion in recovering remains at battle sites: who are the remains recovered for? Would Italian soldiers lying in the graves prefer to remain with their comrades? To whom do the remains belong? My own story, interwoven with Kadare’s, posits questions of belonging and return, reflected in my own search for home and place, as well as consideration of other global mass grave sites—often of noncombatants and victims of genocide—where remains are never found, let alone identified or returned.

From Russian Shadows to Global Spotlights

2024-11-01T12:02:03-04:00

Detective novels have been a popular genre for many years, captivating readers with suspenseful plots and complex characters. Classic characters like Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot continue to entertain people all around the world. Detective novels provide readers with the intrigue, immersion, and the thrill of a mystery full of twists that are less common in other genres. When Western readers think of Russian literature, the first titles that come to mind are the classics: Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov; not detective novels, but a highly successful Russian literary genre that has shown special growth since the 1990s. This introductory essay begins by exploring the relevance of the Russian detective novel, then turns to an overview of a master of the genre, Darya Dontsova, before going over the process of translating a portion of The Empty Nest of a Bird of Paradise.

A sciame. Sedici poesie italiane

2024-11-01T12:08:56-04:00

The translations presented here are taken from Maria Grazia Insinga’s latest poetry anthology, A sciame (In Swarm), published in 2023 by Arcipelago Itaca in Osimo, Italy. The collection is divided into three sections, from which the most exemplary poems have been selected: “La stanza dell’acqua” (“The Water Chamber”), “La testa che parla” (“The Speaking Head”), and “Nel nome del giglio” (“In the Name of the Lily”).

Notes on Contributors

2024-11-01T12:42:29-04:00

Contributor biographies for Delos 39-1.

Didascalia 8

2024-10-31T14:41:57-04:00

Didascalia 8
Caption 8 (2022–2023)
by Alessandro Morino, Ivan Schiavone
Translated by Gianluca Rizzo and Dominic Siracusa

Didascalia 10

2024-10-31T16:45:17-04:00

Didascalia 10
Caption 10 (2022–2023)
by Alessandro Morino, Ivan Schiavone
Translated by Gianluca Rizzo and Dominic Siracusa

Didascalia 11

2024-11-01T11:33:16-04:00

Didascalia 11
Caption 11 (2022–2023)
by Alessandro Morino, Ivan Schiavone
Translated by Gianluca Rizzo and Dominic Siracusa

Didascalia 12

2024-11-01T12:30:59-04:00

Didascalia 12
Caption 12 (2022–2023)
by Alessandro Morino Ivan, Schiavone
Translated by Gianluca Rizzo and Dominic Siracusa

Cancellations by Lorenzo Mari

2024-11-01T12:14:32-04:00

Lorenzo Mari. Cancellations. Translated by Paul Vangelisti. Magra Books, 2023.

Notice by Rae Armantrout

2024-11-01T12:27:11-04:00

Rae Armantrout. Notice. Wesleyan University Press, 2024. Paperback, 40 pages. $7.95. ISBN: 9780819501011.