The Umbrella Revolution and The First Generation of Asian Thinkers
In the introduction to Can Asians Think?, Kishore Mahbubani expressed his disappointment that the book had not triggered the debate he felt was much needed. More
Intuition and Reflection: On Translating Chris Marker
The “essay film” is Marker’s invention and natural element, its best specimens brilliant orchestrations of image and text and sound, of intuition (the snapped photo—and Marker’s images are nearly… More
Counterpointed Sonic Progressions: On Translating Gozo Yoshimasu
"The poems are incredibly powerful and, in performance, even magisterial; the difficulties fade away and the force of the poems—chanted, sung, whispered—transcends many linguistic and cultural barriers." More
My Cosmic Ransom: On Translating Johannes Urzidil
"Urzidil’s world is still very much an enchanted one, with an underlying, often mystical meaning and sense of connectedness. Urzidil is a truth-seeker, and I knew I had to… More
The Feast of Weiner: On Translating Richard Weiner
"What really keeps me turning the pages is rich language, language like Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream: dense as it is, each spoonful only makes me want the next. ...… More
A Writer’s Writer: On Translating Regina Ullmann
"Rilke would continue to champion Ullmann’s work until his death, along with other notable admirers including Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse. Yet she remained what we today would call… More
Ministers, Gossips, and Communists: On Translating Guillermo Cotto-Thorner
"I decided to translate Manhattan Tropics when I came to grasp its significance as a historical and artistic document; as the first novel of the mid-century Puerto Rican diaspora… More
The Language of King David: On Translating Arseny Tarkovsky
"In his poetic and spiritual freedom, Tarkovsky outlasted the slag and dross of totalitarianism. His poetry is the internal cinema of the Soviet era, an unscrolling testimony of the… More
Not Better, but More Humane: On Translating Romain Gary
"The Kites is the only book I have ever skipped work to finish ... Gary fully inhabits his language; he uses every square inch of every word, milking each… More
Of Sea, Sponge, Ant, and Prayer: On Translating María Baranda
"For Baranda, narration is not of social relations but of the essential. Her cry is resoundingly of sea, sponge, ant, and prayer, as related in rapture. It’s for her… More