Paros Poetry Conversation and Translation Symposium, Thoughts from Paros Translation Symposium co-founder Susan Gevirtz
12/05/2015 | Posted by Helen Dimos under Review |
Paros Poetry Conversation and Translation Symposium
The Paros Symposium is an annual meeting of Greek and U.S. poets, translators, and editors. The symposium, which met for the first time in 2004, was motivated in the words of its organizers, Greek poet Siarita Kouka and U.S. poet Susan Gevirtz, in the hope of “altering our orientations to our own languages and writing, as well as expanding our understanding of the social contexts in which we (respectively) make our work. Observing that we were not alone in this hope and these needs, we proceeded to invite others.” The symposium met for six years during the last week of June on the island of Paros, and for five of those years at “The House of Literature.” In the seventh year the symposium met at the European Cultural Center of Delphi. The “House of Literature” was so named by EKEMEL, the European Center for the Translation of Literature and the Human Sciences, responsible also for recently renovating an old hotel and transforming it into an international meeting place for translators, poets, editors, journalists, and many other kinds of writers. EKEMEL is subsidized by EKEBI, the National Book Center of Greece. It has been our honor to be invited to hold the symposium at EKEMEL and EKEVI’s House of Literature.
We begin, as we did last year, at the fortuitous time of the summer solstice and the feast of St John the Diviner. [1] Many divinatory customs are practiced in Greece on this occasion. Greek poet George Seferis reminds us of one example: the dropping of molten lead into “speechless water.” This is water that a child has carried secretly from a well, without speaking to or answering anyone met along the way. The future is foretold from the shape the lead assumes when it hardens in the water. This story of translation from fluid metal into the silence of water, into the fluidity of words about the future, or into some as yet unspoken futures of words, accompanies us in our seven days together. It is also emblematic of the purpose of our meeting. We approach the idea of translation as a multitude of possible alchemies: the literal word-for-word work of moving between languages; the conversations that are generated in talking about and thinking of approaches to the work; methodic or other inventions that become necessary in response to the difficulties and impossibilities built into our tasks — to mention only a few.
Each year there are some participants who wish for specific and uniform guidelines regarding the methods of approach to translation that we prefer. And there are others who feel constrained by any mention of method. Now that we have the momentum of a few years, translation and contact between participating poets occurs not only during, but also before and after our in-person meetings. For example, the Greek American poet John Sakkis, who was here last year, translated a book of Greek poet Siarita Kouka in time for last year’s symposium; Demosthenes Agrafiotis has had work translated and published in an American magazine this year; the editors of other American magazines are asking us for work by Greek poets in Greek and in English; EKEBI, The National Book Center of Greece has expressed interest in publishing work by all of the poets involved in this year’s symposium; this is to mention only a few examples of the kinds of exchange in the realm of publication that has resulted from our meetings.
Greek poetry is also getting airplay in the States through the live medium of poetry readings: Steve Dickison, director of the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University, invited Siarita Kouka and her translator John Sakkis to read in May of 2005. After the reading there was a discussion about translation and contemporary Greek poetry. The audience, composed mainly of students, American and Greek-American poets, participated in a lively question and answer period. I recently opened a poetry reading by reading the English translations of the poet George Koukaledes’ work made when he was here last year — and the Greek American poet Eleni Stecoupolos read the work in Greek. In this vein, we also hope to understand more about the public and private lives of poetry in our respective countries. In contrast to last year, the American poets here this year are all from San Francisco and from a loose but somehow specific and coherent community of poets that is very internationally oriented. In San Francisco there are more poetry reading series, poet’s theatre and performance events, than it is possible to attend. Many are involved in translation, some poets open their homes to make a place for what are called “house readings,” or to honor a newly published book with a party and reading. Steve Dickison is responsible for inviting poets from all over the world to read at The Poetry Center, and there is a sense of collaboration among many San Francisco writers —sometimes at the level of the work itself, and often in service of creating this public life. I think that I can safely speak in the plural and say that we who are here from San Francisco share a need for exposure to the poetry and poets of other places.
There are many different relations to Greek and English present in this room, from native speakers, to Greek Americans, to Greeks fluent in English to varying degrees, to Americans knowing little or no Greek but steeped in poetry, therefore acute listeners and dedicated to curiosity. The asymmetry in the room is also impossible to ignore: all of the Greeks in the room know some English and few of the Americans know much Greek. Needless to say this is symptomatic of a larger global situation. So as Americans we have gratitude to the Greeks not only for hosting us in a literal, but also in a figurative house of language.
We begin here, as everywhere, with the fact that we often cannot understand one another — and of course I don’t speak here only of Greeks and Americans. This makes listening to that which we don’t understand, whether it be in our “own” language, or in a second, or an unknown language, perhaps the first essential and enduring act of writing and translation. Thus, while production is important it is not our main concern — we are more interested in the unexpected conversations on and off paper that result from our time together — and that will continue beyond this time in surprising ways. So when we convene tomorrow morning we will divide into groups of two or three or more and choose a poem, or a page from a poem, to dwell on for some hours or days —unsure of the outcome.
If all that occurs in our time here is a more acute listening, an exposure to that which otherwise would not have been heard, even a flicker of recognition of the impossible to hear — it will have been a very generative stay together. [2]
NOTES
- The following is the opening address to the group gathered to begin the June 2006 Paros Symposium. The group included Greek and Anglophone poets participating in the symposium; the then new director of EKEMEL and Catalan translator Natividad Galvez Garcia; Greek poet Ioanna Abramivou, translator of Paul Celan and Walter Benjamin; among other poets and translators in residence at The House of Literature on Paros.
- See LRL 5 online journal for a special feature on The Paros Symposium including translated poetry. Feature edited by poet and symposium participant Joseph Mosconi. Little Red Leaves: http://www.littleredleaves.com/LRL5/5home.html
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