美国国家公共电台 NPR Can Poetry Be Translated?

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now, it's time to talk poetry. April is Poetry Month. And on this program, we like to go big on poetry by going small, which is to say we invite your original submissions² of tweet-length poems. Each week, a different professional poet is selecting some of the submissions on Twitter to share with our audience.

And this week, our poet curator is Aaron Coleman. He is an award-winning literary³ translator. He's taught poetry to young people both in the U.S. and abroad. He's a graduate of the creative writing program at Washington University in St. Louis, and he still lives there. And he's with us now from St. Louis Public Radio.

Aaron Coleman, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

AARON COLEMAN: It's great to be here, Michel. Thank you.

MARTIN: So you've been looking through the hashtag #nprpoetry on Twitter. And this week has a special twist. You are also looking for poems in Spanish, which is awesome⁴ because you are bilingual and you are a translator. So why don't you just get us going? Tell us some of the poems that caught your eye.

COLEMAN: Yeah, sure. You know, I actually wanted to point out one by Catherine Holsholf (ph). I'll read it in Spanish first, and then I'll read my translation, which was a little tricky⁵.

Here it is. (Speaking in Spanish). And I translated that as I am the wind pushing you. I spend my days drawing waves and goodbyes. Songs between window blinds and white cement.

And you know, I just thought that was really beautiful and simple. And I loved that little opening, metaphor⁶ of calling herself the wind. And then there's these little tricky things that happened, too because tiempo - paso el tiempo in Spanish - is both time and weather. So we know we don't have that sort of opportunity for metaphor in English, so I had - I did days instead of time in order to get it weather and also the passage of time.

MARTIN: I love that. So this is one of the things I wanted to talk with you about. And I want to talk a little bit more about how we translate poetry or how you translate poetry. First of all, let me play you - for you, a submission¹ that we received from Laurel Katchatag from Alaska. Here it is.

LAUREL KATCHATAG: Dreams of dried salmon⁷, hearing eggs, black mukduk, fresh dukduk, wild ukfix, 3,000 miles away, just an inukback in the city.

COLEMAN: Wow.

MARTIN: I know, right? I think it's fair to say that some of the words in this poem are unfamiliar⁸ to most of us. Does it matter in order to appreciate the poem?

COLEMAN: You know, that's the thing about poetry. It's as much a thing of words as it is a thing of sound. And so when we - at least when I encounter that - and that's my first time hearing it - I'm sort of blown away by the rhythm and the momentum⁹ that she gets from mixing together two languages. And mixing together languages is the reality for many people.

MARTIN: You know, the poet Robert Frost once said poetry is what gets lost in translation. So humbling¹⁰ (laughter).

COLEMAN: Oh, yes. (Laughter) Right, right.

MARTIN: Is it ever really possible to translate poetry from one language into another? Do you just have to accept that the thing itself, in translation, is going to be a different thing?

COLEMAN: Yeah, I think it's the latter that you point out there. I mean, I think we all want to have translation work as a process of reproduction, but it's really a process of transformation¹¹. And so when I approach translation, even knowing that it can't quite be what it is in the original language, hopefully it can be a creative, productive¹² failure. Maybe it can be something that opens up a new way for us to see what can happen in English and what can happen in Spanish, for me - or whatever the original language is. So yeah, I really think that translation is about transformation, and it's also about approaching that creatively.

MARTIN: That is poet and translator Aaron Coleman. He's based in St. Louis. Last month, he released his first full-length book of poetry. It's called "Threat Come Close." Aaron Coleman, thank you so much for speaking with us.

COLEMAN: Oh, thank you so much, Michel. It was a pleasure.

MARTIN: And remember, April is not over yet, so we are still accepting submissions to Twitter with the hashtag #NPRPoetry. And if I may, remember, this is not a contest. It is a community project. The point is not to win or to lose or even to get your poem on the air. We want to create a space where listeners can share their poems and read the work of others, so please take a deep breath and get writing.

1 submission   

n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出

参考例句：

• The defeated general showed his submission by giving up his sword.战败将军缴剑表示投降。
• No enemy can frighten us into submission.任何敌人的恐吓都不能使我们屈服。

2 submissions   

n.提交( submission的名词复数 )；屈从；归顺；向法官或陪审团提出的意见或论据

参考例句：

• The deadline for submissions to the competition will be Easter 1994. 递交参赛申请的截止时间为1994年的复活节。 来自辞典例句
• Section 556(d) allows the agency to substitute written submissions for oral direct testimony in rulemaking. 第五百五十六条第（四）款准允行政机关在规则制定中用书面提交材料替代口头的直接证言。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法

3 literary   

adj.文学（上）的

参考例句：

• Literary works of this kind are well received by the masses.这样的文学作品很受群众欢迎。
• The book was favourably noticed in literary magazines.这本书在文学杂志上得到好评。

4 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

5 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

6 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

7 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

8 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

9 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

10 humbling   

adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 )；轻松打败（尤指强大的对手）；低声下气

参考例句：

• A certain humbling from time to time is good. 不时受点儿屈辱是有好处的。 来自辞典例句
• It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-buildingexperience. 据说天文学是一种令人产生自卑、塑造人格的科学。 来自互联网

11 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

12 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。