There are some new magazines out with Central European content. Two Lines: Passageways has Julia Sherwood’s translation of an extract from Slovak writer Ján Rozner’s Seven Days to the Funeral as well as a fantastic selection of Russian poets such as Arseny Tarkovsky (the filmmaker’s father), Velmir Khlebnikov and contemporary Shamshad Abdullaev.
To read a Tarkovsky poem online also translated by Philip Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev go to Two Lines Online from 2011 for “I learned the grass as I began to write . . .” Metres also has a brief post on Tarkovsky’s work and the translation issues it poses, also including a very, very cool photo of the poet.
Nothing is online yet, though they usually make some content available, but with a lot of great-looking Brazilian writing in the issue, it looks worth getting.
World Literature Today’s September issue is out and has a review of a book of poetry titled I Lived on This Earth: Hungarian Poets on the Holocaust as well as a short story by Slovenian writer and translator Lili Potpara “The Surprise” among other content.
And this goes back a month or so, but I missed it. Citing the 20th anniversary of Polish writer Andrzej Stasiuk’s literary debut biweekly.pl has an appropriately irreverent and entertaining recap of his literary career and his legend/reputation. The article is titled “Uptown Boy,” and I will try to contact both Stasiuk and Billy Joel about when the song and, especially, music video, will be released. Can’t wait!
Here’s my recent review of Stasiuk’s On the Road to Babadag at The Cerise Press.
Photo – Arseny Tarkovsky, mid-1930s
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