A few things to have for Wednesday, Week 3 (PLEASE READ THE POST BELOW THIS ONE FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION FROM CLASS):
1) Readings: we’ll be moving from Debord and derives to translation – the problems and possibilities of translating not only from one language to another, but for this course, translating from one artistic medium to another, translating one’s derives into text, and translating each other’s work in various ways. What are the broader meanings of “translation”? How does translation relate to problems of communication and understanding generally? To “say the unsayable” or “unwrite the written”? We’ll be spending this week and next on translation, broadly speaking. This week, some poems and music. Next week a short prose piece. To get us in the mood, here are a couple very short readings for Wednesday. PLEASE PRINT THESE OUT AND PUT THEM IN YOUR COURSE BINDERS (AND BRING THEM TO CLASS):
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/retallack/vol.html - More Retallack, but this time, a poem!
http://mason.gmu.edu/~lsmithg/deathfugue.html#Celan - Paul Celan, Death Fugue
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/pepc/authors/jabes/adam.html - Edmond Jabes, from The Book of Shares
http://jacketmagazine.com/36/kent-on-translation.shtml - Kent Johnson, Notes on Notes on Translation
STUFF AROUND TOWN
2) BRECHT: Please feel free to attend the performance of Brecht’s Threepenny Opera at The Capitol Theater instead of coming to class. HOWEVER, if you do so, bring on Saturday a) a 2 paragraph free-write about the performance and b) a translation (interpret this as widely as you’d like) of that free-write.
3) BECKETT: Please join me in attending a wonderful performance of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame (in my mind one of the most incredible works ever made for the stage) at The Midnight Sun. The show runs through this weekend. I believe tickets are $12. For those of you who go to Endgame, I’d be open to having a casual get-together someplace (end of next week) about what people thought of the production.
4)
See you all Wednesday,
David
ps: be prepared to listen to some Coltrane… yum