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Entries Tagged as 'London'

Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXVIII): James FENTON (b. 1959, Lincoln) UK/ENGLAND: “In Paris With You ”, “La Paris cu tine”

February 1st, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXVIII): James FENTON (b. 1959, Lincoln) UK/ENGLAND: “In Paris With You ”, “La Paris cu tine” · Books, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Do you mind if we do not go to the Louvre
If we say sod off to sodding Notre Dame,
If we skip the Champs Elysées
And remain here in this sleazy
Old hotel room
Doing this and that
To what and whom
Learning who you are,
Learning what I am.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXV): Pablo NERUDA (1904 – 1973) – CHILE “Sonet XVII”, “Soneto XVII”

January 25th, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXV): Pablo NERUDA (1904 – 1973) – CHILE “Sonet XVII”, “Soneto XVII” · Books, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, Translations

Te amo sin saber como, ni cuándo, ni de donde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

La tine, în genunchi, fără apel,
Mă-ndrept lăsând uitat orgoliul greu…
Te-ador ne mai crezând într-un alt fel.

Căci dorul nu mai pot să-l stăvilesc,
Cuprinsă-aşa de strâns la trupul meu,
Privirile-ţi în vis îmi înfloresc.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXIV): Nicanor Parra (n. 1914, Chile) – “Warnings”, “Atenţie”

January 21st, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXIV): Nicanor Parra (n. 1914, Chile) – “Warnings”, “Atenţie” · Books, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

Please Flush Toilet
After Each Use
Except When Train
Is Standing At Station
Be thoughtful
Of The Next Passenger
Onward Christian Soldiers
Workers of the World unite
We have nothing to loose [sic]
but our life Glory to the Father
& to the Son & to the Holy Ghost
unless otherwise instructed
Vă rugăm trageţi lanţul la closet
După întrebuinţare
În afară dacă trenul este în gară

Fiţi atenţi
La ceilalţi pasageri gen
Proletari din toate ţările uniţi-vă
Căci n-avem ce pierde [sic]
Decât viaţa noastră Bine-cuvântat fie Tatăl
Şi Fiul şi Sfântul Duh
În afară de caz contrar
Rendered in Romanian by Constantin ROMAN, London, 2016
© 2016 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXIII), ROMANIA, Adrian MUNTEANU (b. 1948, Brasov, Romania): “Sonet”, “Sonnet”

January 19th, 2016 · 1 Comment · Books, Famous People, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

My heart is melting, by the candlelight,
I’m just a pitiful, stray dog, without repose…
My body, torn to pieces, couldn’t fight.

My sins, which are untold, are worthless dross…
I’m loath and fearful of the coming spite:
You are my only Hope, my Holy Cross.

Rendered in English by Constantin ROMAN, London, 2016
© 2016 Copyright Constantin ROMAN, London

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Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba: Receptarea românească A PRIMULUI SCRIITOR STRĂIN LAUREAT AL PREMIULUI GONCOURT

January 15th, 2016 · Comments Off on Isabela Vasiliu-Scraba: Receptarea românească A PRIMULUI SCRIITOR STRĂIN LAUREAT AL PREMIULUI GONCOURT · Books, Communist Prisons, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, OPINION, PEOPLE, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, quotations, Reviews, Translations

Prin anii cincizeci Vintilă Horia reținea cu mai multă subtilitate un fapt caracteristic lumii desacralizate în care mulți sunt creștini doar cu numele: Anume că păgânismul care „controlează toate mijloacele eficace de propagandă” îndreaptă „voința de a aparține” nutrită de omul societății de azi către partide, secte, grupări totalitare” (Vintilă Horia, Speranța socialismului tragic, text publicat de Uscătescu în revista „Destin” nr. 8-9/ 1954, republicat în vol. Mihaela Albu & Dan Anghelescu, Eseistica lui Vintilă Horia – deschideri către transdisciplinaritate, Ed. Aius, Craiova, 2015, p.199). – See more at: http://www.romanianstudies.org/content/2016/01/isabela-vasiliu-scraba-receptarea-romaneasca-a-primului-scriitor-strain-laureat-al-premiului-goncourt/?preview_id=7030&preview_nonce=6b04855292&preview=true#sthash.SUZLPqIt.dpuf

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXII), ROMANIA/GERMANY, Alexandru LUNGU (1924 Cetatea Alba, Bessarabia, Romania – 2008, Bonn, Germany): “Margini”, “Limit”

January 9th, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXII), ROMANIA/GERMANY, Alexandru LUNGU (1924 Cetatea Alba, Bessarabia, Romania – 2008, Bonn, Germany): “Margini”, “Limit” · Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Reviews, Translations

Leave me this limit
of the world
ultimate frontier uncertain space
sufficient to stop sliding
this lonely traveler’s foot
sufficient to stop my head
falling off the clouds.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXI), RUSSIA, Alexander PUSHKIN (1799, Moscow – 1837 St. Petersburg): “Friendship”, “Prietenie”

January 5th, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXXI), RUSSIA, Alexander PUSHKIN (1799, Moscow – 1837 St. Petersburg): “Friendship”, “Prietenie” · Communist Prisons, Famous People, History, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, POLITICAL DETENTION / DISSENT, Translations

What’s friendship? The hangover’s faction,
The gratis talk of outrage,
Exchange by vanity, inaction,
Or bitter shame of patronage.

Prietenia, ce e? Ecou de facţiune,
O vorbă ieftină, cu spirit de ultraj,
Cocktail de vanitate şi inacţiune,
Păcatul unui mare patronaj.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXX), Mexico, Víctor TERÁN (b. 1958, Mexico): “I Know Your Body”, “ Îţi cunosc trupul tău”

January 3rd, 2016 · Comments Off on Poetry in Translation (CCCLXX), Mexico, Víctor TERÁN (b. 1958, Mexico): “I Know Your Body”, “ Îţi cunosc trupul tău” · Books, Diaspora, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations

There is no part of your body that I do not know, there is no
part that I do not like. I want to keep being
the light stunned at the look of your white
roundness of flesh. I want to keep
living
in the beautiful city
that you are.

Nu a mai rămas nici o parte a corpului tău care să nu o cunosc, nici o
parte care să nu îmi placă. Aşi vrea să fiu de-a pururi
lumina înmărmurită, privind sideful
rotund al corpului tău. Aşi vrea de-a pururi
să trăiesc
în această cetate splendidă
care eşti Tu.

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Thirty five Years ago: Oriana Falacci interrogates Ayatollah Khomeini (1979)

December 31st, 2015 · Comments Off on Thirty five Years ago: Oriana Falacci interrogates Ayatollah Khomeini (1979) · Books, Diary, Famous People, History, OPINION, PEOPLE, quotations

Perhaps only one Western journalist ever managed to interview Ayatollah Khomeini twice. And from those long discussions we learned an enormous amount about the nature of the adamant theocracy that he was bent upon instituting. The second session was an achievement in itself, since Oriana had terminated the first one by wrenching off the all-enveloping chador she had been compelled to wear and calling it a:
“stupid, medieval rag.”
She told me that after this moment of drama she had been taken aside by Khomeini’s son, who confided in her that it had been the only time in his life that he had seen his father laugh.

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Poetry in Translation (CCCLXIX), GALICIA, SPAIN, Manuel Álvarez TORNEIRO (b. 1932): “On The Matter of Adagio, In tribute to Tomaso Albinoni”, “Adagio, Tribut lui Tomaso Albinoni”

December 21st, 2015 · No Comments · Books, Famous People, International Media, PEOPLE, Poetry, quotations, Translations, Uncategorized

The hour arborescent in the shelter of evening.
That voluptuous taffeta of sense
And life,
which binds severe moments.
A lit blade of grass touches the tremulous flesh,
elaborates the happy flowering of what’s lost.
Nothing is shipwrecked definitively.
The viola turns into sheer silk.
Great scars receive their oils.

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