tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post7160327612744950609..comments2024-03-25T22:38:46.822+08:00Comments on in lieu of a field guide: Epilogue for variations: “Godzilla in Mexico” (Roberto Bolaño)Risehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-1495973254938430242015-12-04T22:07:24.479+08:002015-12-04T22:07:24.479+08:00Thanks for your belated comment, Luke. It made me ...Thanks for your belated comment, Luke. It made me revisit this fascinating poem. It is a weird assumption indeed. How many cartoon shows in Mexico City feature detective characters? It almost invites detective work and clearly after the spirit of our poet. The best excuse might be that the second poem is called "a version" and it is a loose version in that line alone. Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-33341479989710190262015-12-02T04:47:20.647+08:002015-12-02T04:47:20.647+08:00I appreciate the importance of the translator'...I appreciate the importance of the translator's ideas and "feel" for a poem taking it beyond a literal translation, but the Boston version translates 'Los dibujos animados' as the 'detectives.' Isn't this just too big an assumption? To a certain degree, it seems Boston's taken Bolaño's interest, or thematic preoccupation, with detectives and blindly Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06412661264959651989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-8562994438949228332010-06-21T19:21:31.361+08:002010-06-21T19:21:31.361+08:00Thanks for the insights, Jeremy. I wish I know Spa...Thanks for the insights, Jeremy. I wish I know Spanish to understand what is happening in the poem and how the translations try to capture its sense. I've previously read your post on the concluding lines of "Resurrection." I think it's a key poem defining Bolaño's poetics since the figure of the diver recurs in his fiction (in the stories in <i>Last Evenings on Earth</i> asRisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3769714277850142841.post-87158240747932266692010-06-20T19:29:00.292+08:002010-06-20T19:29:00.292+08:00Boston's first line scans much closer to the f...Boston's first line scans much closer to the first line of the original but would be far better with "the bombs" instead of "bombs". Both translations have a problem in the third line -- the sense is "nobody was taking notice/paying attention", the flat past tense does not capture it and it needs more syllables.<br /><br />In general neither translation The Modesto Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13495938191100565263noreply@blogger.com