What are you reading tonight?

[Bruce Rioja]

Hats off to Waterstones here. Very good.

[William the White]

I am reading a poem a day by the wonderful Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish.

This is the closing section of his demanding, moving, brilliant poem With the Mist so Dense on the Bridge.

If this road is long
there is work for me in mythology;

I was alone on the bridge on that day
after the Messiah withdrew to
a hill in the suburbs of Jericho, before the Resurrection.

I walk, and I cannot go in or out.
I turn like a sunflower.

At night, I am awakened
by the voice of the soldier on night watch
as she sings to her lover:

Promise me nothing,
do not send me a rose from Jericho!

I didn't know what a Jericho rose was until reading this, and researching it. Also known as the 'Resurrection Plant' it responds to drought by becoming tumbleweed and drifting across the desert until finding water... When it once more begins to live...

Darwish is from the land of the three great monotheisms - and uses the imagery of all of them.

And here, within what might seem a Christian image has found a powerful metaphor for Palestine, and a people uprooted, driven through the desert land, yet to find the place that will help them grow again.

I am enjoying this poet, learning to understand him, wishing I could hear and understand him in Arabic!

[Dujon]

I wonder, William the White, what gets lost in such translations? How true are they to the original meanings hidden in metaphors which don't translate into English in any meaningful form? It would have to a brave man or woman with an extensive knowledge of Darwish's background and his understanding of the myths and realities of his birth place to even attempt such an exercise. A literal translation (i.e. word for word) would hardly work as any underlying or innate meaning would be lost in the addition of another layer of language. I know nothing of Darwish's work so I had a quick look around the Internet. It wasn't particularly informative apart from biographical details. Among the various commentaries was this:

Mahmoud Darwish’s early work of the 1960s and 1970s reflects his unhappiness with the occupation of his native land. Carolyn Forché and Runir Akash noted in their introduction to Unfortunately It Was Paradise (2003) that “as much as [Darwish] is the voice of the Palestinian Diaspora, he is the voice of the fragmented soul.” Forché and Akash commented also on his 20th volume, Mural: “Assimilating centuries of Arabic poetic forms and applying the chisel of modern sensibility to the richly veined ore of its literary past, Darwish subjected his art to the impress of exile and to his own demand that the work remain true to itself, independent of its critical or public reception.”

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye commented on the poems in Unfortunately It Was Paradise: “[T]he style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people.”

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/mahmoud-darwish" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I suspect that reading those sorts of critiques would deter rather than encourage readers to search out his works. Perhaps a fully annotated (by more than one person) version might be helpful; it's been done with The Bible so why not with a few volumes of poetry? Well, if nothing else, it's food for thought.

[Bruce Rioja]

I am reading a poem a day by the wonderful Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish.

If his (or her, I've no idea) views didn't tally with yours, would you still be calling him/her a wonderful poet? Serious question! Let's discuss this.

[thebish]

I didn't know what a Jericho rose was until reading this, and researching it.

if you watched The Walking Dead - you'd know this without the need for Arabic poetry and extensive research!

[William the White]

I am reading a poem a day by the wonderful Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish.

If his (or her, I've no idea) views didn't tally with yours, would you still be calling him/her a wonderful poet? Serious question! Let's discuss this.

If his poetry appealed to me I'd be hugely enthusiastic...

A quick glance at the now-all-but-defunct 'Poetry' thread would find me praising T S Eliot (Anglo-catholic conservative), Gerard Manley Hopkins (Jesuit priest pretty much on the wild side - he describes Martin Luther as a 'beast of the waste wood...' )

I don't judge the quality of a poet's work on its political/social stance or its closeness to my views... Or, indeed, judge any other artistic activity that way - I can sit through the glories of a Wagner opera overwhelmed by its power, while, actually, feeling very uncomfortable about the profound anti-semitism of the composer and in the knowledge that he was Hitler's favourite... and my criticisms of Dali are to do with my response to his art rather than his support for Franco.

And, in detailed terms, I don't know enough about Darwish's political journey - I do know he broke with Arafat and had long term friendships with Israeli poets and thinkers. Indeed, as I learn about these I'm finding myself reading contemporary Israeli poets...

Darwish's poetry is new to me. I am loving it.

[William the White]

I didn't know what a Jericho rose was until reading this, and researching it.

if you watched The Walking Dead - you'd know this without the need for Arabic poetry and extensive research!

And I wouldn't have had to waste my time with all this poetry...

Though, tbh, the research did not have to be 'extensive'. But was interesting the illumination a single google search can bring to an Arabic poem in translation...

I did think about you, bish, when I posted that extract, with its references to Christian discourse and wondered if he would be a poet that might interest you. I think much of his work was influenced by spirituality, and a spirituality informed by his background, without being overtly 'religious'...

In case - you'll find the complete poem here... http://www.vqronline.org/mist-so-dense-bridge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[William the White]

I wonder, William the White, what gets lost in such translations? How true are they to the original meanings hidden in metaphors which don't translate into English in any meaningful form? It would have to a brave man or woman with an extensive knowledge of Darwish's background and his understanding of the myths and realities of his birth place to even attempt such an exercise. A literal translation (i.e. word for word) would hardly work as any underlying or innate meaning would be lost in the addition of another layer of language. I know nothing of Darwish's work so I had a quick look around the Internet. It wasn't particularly informative apart from biographical details. Among the various commentaries was this:

Mahmoud Darwish’s early work of the 1960s and 1970s reflects his unhappiness with the occupation of his native land. Carolyn Forché and Runir Akash noted in their introduction to Unfortunately It Was Paradise (2003) that “as much as [Darwish] is the voice of the Palestinian Diaspora, he is the voice of the fragmented soul.” Forché and Akash commented also on his 20th volume, Mural: “Assimilating centuries of Arabic poetic forms and applying the chisel of modern sensibility to the richly veined ore of its literary past, Darwish subjected his art to the impress of exile and to his own demand that the work remain true to itself, independent of its critical or public reception.”

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye commented on the poems in Unfortunately It Was Paradise: “[T]he style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people.”

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/mahmoud-darwish" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I suspect that reading those sorts of critiques would deter rather than encourage readers to search out his works. Perhaps a fully annotated (by more than one person) version might be helpful; it's been done with The Bible so why not with a few volumes of poetry? Well, if nothing else, it's food for thought.

It is Unfortunately, It Was Paradise that I am reading, poem by poem. At least one a day.

I'm certain that I'm missing loads of things because a translation cannot easily get to the heart of a poem, a culture cannot easily speak to another culture, a life experience cannot easily speak to a different one - I have never been an exile, I have often been a tourist.

So we've no choice, I guess, but to make the best of what we have - and I think I'm getting a great deal from this experience, partial as it inevitably is.

[Il Pirate]

Surely the time has come for a Christopher Jeffries emotion smilie, no?

[Dr Hotdog]

Japrocksampler: How the Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll, by Julian Cope.
Excellent so far.

[KeyserSoze]

Reading The Third Policeman at the moment by Flann O'Brien. It's kind of hypnotic but can be tough at times, but I think when you get used to the language it's fine. Creepy, too.

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Quarter way through the Bone Clocks by David Mitchell. So far so good, his characterisation is excellent...

[Jugs]

Hats off to Waterstones here. Very good.

Brilliant. Which Waterstones? Bolton?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Hats off to Waterstones here. Very good.

Brilliant. Which Waterstones? Bolton?

... I love the minor in the corner: engrossed on his i-phone in a bookshop. Brilliant!
(what d'ya mean, stop being so obtuse!)

[TANGODANCER]

Just finished Slow Horses by Mick Heron. If you like your spy stuff John Le Carre style, give this a read. Much more George Smiley than 007, a warts and all tale of ladder-climbing, back-stabbing, arse-covering devious skulduggery in our not-so-Secret Service. "Slow Horses" is a pun on Slough House, one of the scenes of the action. Well worth a read this one.

[Prufrock]

Hats off to Waterstones here. Very good.

[Harry Genshaw]

Since I love reading non fiction, I enjoy picking a person or subject that intrigues me, searching it on amazon and then purchasing a relevant book. This was how I ended up reading Idi Amin - Lion of Africa. Surprisingly, there's very little out there on him and this book, written by a Ugandan Asian who fled Uganda during Amins pogrom was one of the few I could find.

God, it was annoying. The writer is so bitter towards Britain (perhaps understandably so) it clouds his work so much that too often, Amins murder and mayhem are almost excused when compared next to the UK governments actions at the time. Don't bother.

[LeverEnd]

Reading James Lee Burke's Jesus Out To Sea, a collection of short stories. He's an excellent writer, best known for his series of novels about Louisiana detective Dave Robicheaux. They are very readable but more stylish and atmospheric than your average detective novel. The Tin Roof Blowdown was a recent one in the series and was written in the wake of Hurricane Katarina. He's big on sense of place in his work and you can tell he really felt it.

[clapton is god]

^ About six years or so ago I went off on Burke's books and read about half a dozen Robicheaux books in a row. I found them all a bit depressing in the end and had to give it up. I never resumed although I think I still have a couple of them unread around here somewhere. Never quite gripped me in the way that Connelly or Rankin does.

[LeverEnd]

^ About six years or so ago I went off on Burke's books and read about half a dozen Robicheaux books in a row. I found them all a bit depressing in the end and had to give it up. I never resumed although I think I still have a couple of them unread around here somewhere. Never quite gripped me in the way that Connelly or Rankin does.

I like his style, also a big fan of the Bosch novels, which I've only recently discovered. I'll be working my way through them in due course.