Dimona Nuclear Reactor, Negev Nuclear Research Center Uri Avnery November 30, 2013 The Debacle THE GREATEST danger to Israel is not the putative Iranian nuclear bomb. The greatest danger is the stupidity of our leaders. This is not a uniquely Israeli phenomenon. A great many of the world’s leaders are plain stupid, and always have been. Enough to look at what happened in Europe in July 1914, when an incredible … Read more Avnery on the Iran Deal
via Jan Herman‘s Straight Up site: November 28, 2013 by Jan Herman Leave a Comment A Straight Up tradition continues. William S. Burroughs’s words of gratitude on Thanksgiving Day paired with a couple of collages by Norman O. Mustill. Look and listen. It’s delish . . . Collages © 1967 by Norman O. Mustill, excerpted from ‘Flypaper’ [Beach Books, San Francisco, 1967] Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit … Read more A Thanksgiving Team: Burroughs & Mustill, Redux
In the German newspaper Die Welt, Siegfried Tesche speaks with filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, whose latest film Me and You just started its run in Germany, about movie-making and a range of other subjects (If you have German, read the interview here). One of the subjects under discussion is Sergio Leone, with whom Bertolucci had wanted to work very much. Here’s Bertolucci recollection: “In the sixties Sergio Leone was one of the … Read more The Horse’s Ass As Aesthetic Gauge
On the last day before I left for Europe earlier this month, the mailman brought a gorgeous 869 page book: Robert Duncan — The Collected Later Poems and Plays, edited and with an introduction by Peter Quartermain (University of California Press). Could I somehow stash it in my luggage with all the other books I had to lug to Europe & back. Hold it in my hand? Clamp it … Read more RD is Back!
… born today, 23 November, 93 years ago, i.e. in 1920. Left in 1970; is stilled missed. But we have the work. Here is one of the first poems of his I translated back in 1968, the year after Atemwende / Breathturn, the volume from which it is taken, came out: Eroded by the beamwind of your speech the gaudy chatter of the pseudo- experienced — the hundred- tongued … Read more Paul Celan…
The Luxembourg writer Lambert Schlechter has been writing to the Russian ambassador & to the media in Luxembourg & beyond to try & put pressure on the Russian government in relation to the latter’s Stalinist behavior regarding the Pussy Riot group of protesters & more specifically Nadezhda Tolokonnikova. Below, the second of his Open Letters: Banishing Human Rights to Siberia Second OPEN LETTER To His Excellency Dr Mark Entin, ambassador … Read more Open Letter re Pussy Riot’s Nadezhda Tolokonnikova
via the excellent Arab Literature (in English) blog: by mlynxqualey In his recent review of the book, M.A. Orthofer called Humphrey Davies’ translation of Ahmed Faris al-Shidyaq’s Leg Over Leg “the most important literary publication of a translation into English, in terms of literary history and our understanding of it, in years.” Davies answered a few questions about the four-volume book in an interview that originally appeared on the Library of Arabic Literature … Read more Humphrey Davies on Climbing Translation’s Mt. Everest
Press release by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research 11/15/2013 Success of climate talks vital for 2°C target Achieving a global climate agreement soon could be crucial for the objective to keep global mean temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. The challenges of meeting the long-term target will otherwise increase drastically both in terms of the required emissions reductions and economic impacts. This is shown by the first … Read more Climate Talks: 2° Target
On Saturday, November 23, Poets House, in partnership with City Lore and NY’OC Trobadors, hosts a landmark symposium celebrating and bringing the riches of southern French poetry and culture to the American public. The symposium gathers international and local poets, artists, scholars, and performers to share the fascinating history of the region and bring to life the songs of troubadours past and present in the endangered lenga d’òc (Occitan language). Chef and foodie favorite … Read more Occitan Symposium, Banquet & Performance
ON TRANSLATION AND POETIC IDENTITY IN THE AGE OF IDENTITY POLITICS WITH AMMIEL ALCALAY AND BENJAMIN HOLLANDER Monday, November 18, 2013 Olin 115, 11:50am-1:10pm Ammiel Alcalay and Benjamin Hollander will address how translation as act and idea has shaped their practices and poetic identities. Hollander, who grew up between German and Hebrew before coming to the English he now writes in, will speak to how this linguistic and cultural journey has been translated into the … Read more Alcalay & Hollander at Bard College!