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George Szirtes
George Szirtes's many books of poetry have won various prizes including the T. S. Eliot Prize (2004), for which he is again shortlisted for Bad Machine (2013). His translation of László Krasznahorkai's Satantango (2013) was awarded the Best Translated Book Award in the US. The act of translation is, he thinks, bound to involve fidelity, ambiguity, confusion and betrayal.

Articles Available Online


Foreword: A Pound of Flesh

FEATURE

Issue No. 12

GEORGE SZIRTES

FEATURE

Issue No. 12

1.   ANALOGIES FOR TRANSLATION ARE MANY, most of them assuming a definable something on one side of the equation – a fixed original...

FEATURE

January 2014

Afterword: The Death of the Translator

GEORGE SZIRTES

FEATURE

January 2014

1. The translator meets himself emerging from his lover’s bedroom. So much for fidelity, he thinks. 2. Je est...

I strayed into the church on an impulse It was a mistake to get off the bus in the village here I should have waited until we reached the summer cabins, but all of a sudden I wasn’t sure where we were I got off without asking It turned out to be eighteen kilometres too soon The next bus isn’t until three, which is another four hours yet It’s like that on Saturdays, in the outlying areas   Now I’m sitting in the church with my holdall, surrounded by people in their best clothes I might as well be doing something while I’m here The main door is still open and the sun is shining outside The church is on top of a hill When I turn round and look out, I can see the view of fields and the sky Many of the others keep turning round too, twisting their heads this way and that After a bit there’s some muffled activity in the porch The organ begins to play and the bride steps into the church on her father’s arm Everyone stands up, nodding and smiling   I look into the bride’s eyes as she comes past Her hair is blonde and arranged in an updo Her father nods An elderly woman next to me leans across   ‘Ooh,’ she says softly   Her voice is a tremble She smells of camphor   ‘Yes,’ I whisper back   ‘Isn’t she just!’ the woman says, still a tremble   We sit down and the ceremony begins       After it starts I nearly leave I ought to But on the other hand it’s anyone’s right to sit and gape And if I leave now I’ll only draw attention So I stay put and join in the hymns when it’s time to sing, and leaf on to the next one in plenty of time   It takes a while, but then it’s over and the happy couple kiss The door is opened and the organ plays They walk back up the aisle, holding hands and smiling   Once they’ve left the church the guests follow them out I wait until last A woman stands in the porch shaking everyone’s hand;

CONTRIBUTOR

August 2014

George Szirtes

CONTRIBUTOR

August 2014

George Szirtes’s many books of poetry have won various prizes including the T. S. Eliot Prize (2004), for which...

Shine On You Crazy Diamond

POETRY

November 2013

GEORGE SZIRTES

POETRY

November 2013

And so they shone, every one of them, each crazy, everyone a diamond shining the way things shine, each becoming a gleam in his...
Rescue Me

POETRY

November 2013

GEORGE SZIRTES

POETRY

November 2013

Pain comes like this: packaged in a moment of hubris with a backing band too big for its own good. It isn’t the same...

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Interview

January 2017

Interview with Barbara T. Smith

Ciara Moloney

Interview

January 2017

Californian artist Barbara T. Smith (b. 1931) is something of a performance art legend. It was in the 1960s...

poetry

September 2011

The Moon over Timna

Rikudah Potash

TR. Michael Casper

poetry

September 2011

In a copper house Lived the new moon, The new moon Of Timna. In a copper coat With a...

fiction

January 2015

One Out of Two

Daniel Sada

TR. Katherine Silver

fiction

January 2015

Now, how to say it? One out of two, or two in one, or what? The Gamal sisters were...

 

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