a lock against oblivion
Dec. 9th, 2018 01:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catilinaas part of “nox”, anne carson translates (or tiptoes around the edges of translating) catullus 101, the poem about the death of his brother. and as part of the collage of things she makes her not-quite-translation out of, she translates and comments on herodotus 1.1. she says history is wanting to make things make sense as “a lock against oblivion”. whose oblivion? the events written about or the writer themself?
but then translation adds a whole other layer to the lock. translation keeps a text from oblivion but also in a way obliterates it. you write over what the original text might have been saying with your interpretation. or maybe you make a lock for the original author but lock their voice out. preserve them as a concept while speaking through the concept you’ve made with your own voice instead.
and poems are little locks against oblivion too.
translating an ancient poem involves means keeping the moment in the poem, and the ancient poet, and the poem, and yourself from oblivion. but at the same time in translating you lose all those things.
its 2:08am but i’ve had “a lock against oblivion” stuck in my head since wednesday
but then translation adds a whole other layer to the lock. translation keeps a text from oblivion but also in a way obliterates it. you write over what the original text might have been saying with your interpretation. or maybe you make a lock for the original author but lock their voice out. preserve them as a concept while speaking through the concept you’ve made with your own voice instead.
and poems are little locks against oblivion too.
translating an ancient poem involves means keeping the moment in the poem, and the ancient poet, and the poem, and yourself from oblivion. but at the same time in translating you lose all those things.
its 2:08am but i’ve had “a lock against oblivion” stuck in my head since wednesday
