I have an idea for a course on Spanish literature: books that talk about the book industry. Help me make the syllabus, yes? Meanwhile, everyone should reread the Quixote, for the language. Here is a piece of it. Sucedió, pues, que yendo por una calle alzó los ojos don Quijote y vio escrito sobre una … More Don Quixote
I am reading translation theory for class and catching my breath. These were my original research questions, when I was a child. The reasons I studied the things I did. Not the relationship between words and things, but words and thoughts, and the way in which language produces or conditions perception. Axé.
At the gym, I was watching television while rowing. On the show, the daughter told her mother, “I am so tired of you always expecting the worst of me!” And I realized that was it. There are so many factors. I love two-year-olds because I was adored at that age as well, but when I … More Insight
Update 2: This schedule, even in its revised version, is punitive and I have been unable to work efficiently since I made it. Why is it not all right to just do as we did in college and graduate school, which was work at school as you would a job? Why are we exhorted to … More A schedule PROBLEM
Mais c’est si clair. I feel guilty and nervous about doing work because I know I will be interrupted as soon as I really start. It all had to do with the self serving agenda of others. “Your work is just play, and you will see that relatively soon. Your real role is to serve … More La psychanalyse
“It appears to me,” said Don Quixote, “that translating from one language into another . . . is like gazing at a Flemish tapestry with the wrong side out: even though the figures are visible, they are full of threads that obscure the view and are not bright and smooth as when seen from the … More Miguel de Cervantes
A great and new to me Guatemalan poet. Ricosabrosodeliciosoyexquisito. It is the tenth anniversary of my move to WordPress, and I have no readers left because weblogs are passé, but we will sing. lo escupo así pelado y sin pelos en la lengua, quién dijo miedo atrás de un palo, se los dejo ir así … More Alan Mills
Today I submitted an application for the PEN/Heim Translation Prize, in 18,000 words. Pachamama, Pallas Athena, Iansan, old father, all artificers, stand me now in good stead. Axé.
Quelqu’un a dit ça. I, of course, almost always want to live forever. Axé.
For me, writing always begins with self-forgiveness. I don’t sit down and rush headlong into the blank page. I make coffee. I put on a song I like. I drink the coffee, listen to the song. I don’t write. Beginning with forgiveness revolutionizes the writing process, returns it being to a journey of creativity rather … More Writing begins with forgiveness
