A new anthology of contemporary American poetry

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In the United States and along came a bilingual anthology of contemporary poetry: the publishing house in Illinois published "Modern poetry", while in Moscow publishing house OGI has published a book "Modern American poets". The initiator of the project was the national endowment for the arts, USA, headed by poet and critic Dana Gioia.

In anthology of American poetry includes works by 44 authors. The composer (April Lindner), a renowned expert on American poetry of the twentieth century, the poet laureate Walt McDonald. In an interview with the service "voice of America" she said she tried to present the most significant and outstanding works.

"I wanted says April Lindner, is to enable and traditionalists working with the classic rhyme, and experimental poets aesthetic heirs of modernism, which sometimes I doubt that language in General can be trusted to the same extent as we used to do it. These are two extreme positions that are in the United States are often at war among themselves and rarely interact, and most often in anthologies you can find or the one or the other style. I wanted to include both of these, if anything, opposites, and all the fun, bright, amazing and entertaining that exist in the wide spectrum between them."

Interestingly, all included in the anthology the authors were born during the cold war from 1945 to 1972 year. But April Lindner says, making the anthology she customized it to the audience, the taste of which is, moreover, little is known. At the same time, she felt a certain special responsibility.

"Because I knew it was a rare opportunity continues April Lindner. I think I felt it and didn't want to miss out on the opportunity of cultural exchange."

In anthology of poetry also included works by representatives of the postwar generation. Many of them emerged as poets in period, and do not consider traditional forms of versification required.

The anthologist who participated in the presentations of the book in new York, in an interview with "Voice of America" said that American poetry today, in his opinion, for the first time, can be truly appreciated.

"American poetry of the twentieth century, who are almost all free verse, was absolutely exotic, even when it is translated, and translated not bad. Because it was not unique in poetry, not to compare. Even 10-20 years ago it wasn't poetry. Today, when in a lot of poets, especially the young, are writing in free verse, or semi-rhymed, or even in a very distinctive structure today these verses first appear in the context of searches poetry. It is very important that it was not easy as the American folk ensemble came, and that it was really relevant to the context of poetry".

About the importance of context in poetry is best known translators. Jim Kates edited translations of poetry into English published in the USA anthology.

There came a poem, which is built on a well-known song. This song known, but in English she is completely unknown, and it would be wrong literal translation of her words. I had to find a song that in English is "readable" would be about the same, and then completely rewrite the poem based on this song. Someone can compare texts and say "But it's a completely different poem!", Jim says Kates.

In his opinion, some of the poems require such indirect translation which best conveys their meaning, while others need to be translated literally. By the way, published in anthology of American poetry was not the editor of the translation, and, according to critics, the edition suffered from this. At the same time, emphasizes Jim Kates, any translation is only one of the possible readings of the original, and poetry in translation will certainly. In this process, in his opinion, is a life-giving dialogue of cultures.

"If we limit ourselves to only what our own culture says cates, we condemn ourselves to blindness and deafness in relation to the outside world."

Jim Kates is headed by a small publishing house, "Zephyr press", specializing in modern poetry and the existing for-profit basis.

"Directory publisher", he continues, an important place of poetry. In our country there is a famine of foreign poetry, which do not meet existing publishers.

Poets in America have never played stadiums, but here they have a completely different function. The gratifying fact that released "Heat-press" in 1990, the collection in English translation has sold 50 thousand copies. According to Mr. Kates, the circulation of modern, little-known poets from is modest: one or two thousand copies.

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