Rosalía Translators – Interview with John Howard Reid

Continuing our series of interviews with editors/translators of Rosalía de Castro’s Galician and Spanish poetry, I include here an interview with John Howard Reid, the editor/translator of two anthologies of Rosalía’s Spanish poetry.

John Howard Reid (also known as Tom Howard) is based in Australia. He self publishes with Lulu.com. He has published numerous titles on cinema, a series of mystery/suspense novels based on the character Merryll Manning, new translations of the Gospels, poetry, advice on writing, and translations from Spanish of poetry.

These translations include Rosalia de Castro: Selected poems rendered into English verse and Rosalia de Castro: Margarita & other poems in Spanish & English. A third volume of Rosalía’s Galician poems, based on Mauro Armiño’s Spanish translation, is planned.

What made you want to translate Rosalía de Castro’s poetry?

I’ve always loved Rosalia’s work since reading ‘The Bells’ many years ago at college.

What were the main criteria you used in your selection?

I had none. I simply translated the poems I particularly admired. But there were so many de Castro creations in this category, one book could not contain all my favorites. So I followed Rosalia de Castro Selected Poems rendered into English verse with Margarita & Other Poems in Spanish & English.

Why were none of Rosalía’s Galician poems included in your selection?

I can’t read Galician, but now that they have been translated into Spanish, I am working on English translations for publication later this year.

Did you receive any input from the publisher – did they comment on the translation or did they limit themselves to publishing the book?

The publisher had no input whatever. In fact, they didn’t even publicize the book to any great extent.

What kind of reception has the book received? How well has it been distributed?

Reviewers have been most encouraging, but despite their praises, the publisher, the wholesaler and book retailers generally have been totally unimpressed. Amazon is the only noteworthy exception.

You have translated other poets and also parts of the Bible. How do you approach a translation? Do you approach all translations in the same way?

To some extent, the answer is yes. My first question is: ‘What are the authors actually telling us in this particular passage or sentence?’ My second question: ‘How can that particular notion/thought/statement/idea be best rendered into English?’ In other words, it is the meaning rather than the form that I home in on, but I do try to preserve a poetic structure, even if that structure is not actually a mirror image of the original.

You have written poetry, crime fiction, advice on writing, and also been involved for many years in the publishing industry. How do you combine such varied activities?

I transferred from the newspaper industry to the publishing industry because I wanted to broaden my horizons. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life writing a newspaper column. Who remembers newspaper columnists – even famous ones? Is Will Rogers still thought of as a newspaper columnist? In fact I’d be surprised if anyone would make this connection today.

Rosalía Day – ‘The Poet Out of Time & Place’

To celebrate Rosalía Day, the Irish poet Michael Smith, who edited and translated Rosalía de Castro’s Selected Poems for Shearsman Books in 2007, has written the following poem, which we are honoured to publish on this blog:

THE POET OUT OF TIME & PLACE

in memoriam Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885)

Born out of time and place

as most of us think we are,

her sadness was not hers alone

but her people’s, too, inbred in her.

‘A village moaner,’ Unamuno said.

But his own moans – his mortality –

were longer and larger than hers

which she bore with as great courage.

A lost, loved child. Sickness.

Wanderings in a Castile not quite hers,

a heart-rending desire to return,

to die by the sea amid her own.

Their lost poetry her persistent love.

Her scattered folk never forgotten.

Michael Smith

Galician Songs in English

Small Stations Press announces the publication of Rosalía de Castro’s Galician Songs, considered the cornerstone of modern Galician literature, for the first time in English. The translation was carried out by the Canadian poet and translator Erín Moure, who as well as being an accomplished poet in her own right – winner of the Governor General’s Award for poetry and twice of the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry – has translated three books by Chus Pato into English, all of them published by Shearsman Books.

Galician Songs forms part of the series Galician Classics published by Small Stations Press with the support of the Xunta de Galicia. Previous titles in the series are Lois Pereiro’s Collected Poems, Álvaro Cunqueiro’s Folks From Here and There and Celso Emilio Ferreiro’s Long Night of Stone.

Rosalía Translators – Interview with Aileen Dever

The third and final interview in our series of interviews with the editors/translators of the three anthologies of Rosalía de Castro’s Galician and Spanish poetry available in English is with Aileen Dever, who together with her father, John P. Dever, edited and translated The Poetry and Prose of Rosalía de Castro for Edwin Mellen Press in 2010.

What made you want to translate work by Rosalía de Castro?

My father and I were drawn to the beauty and meaningfulness of Rosalía’s poetry and essays. We thought it could be useful to bring to English a larger selection of her work for scholars, creative writers, and those who simply enjoy reading poetry and prose.

How difficult was it to find a publisher? Who made the initial contact, you or the publisher?

It was not difficult to find a publisher as Edwin Mellen Press regularly has a representative and published material about the company at one of the conferences I regularly attend. When my father and I decided to do the translation, we sent the manuscript proposal to Mellen simply because we knew them.

There were two of you translating this book. How did you share the workload?

My father had recently retired from his teaching position and was looking for projects to do. I thought this might be a nice project to engage his mind and one in which he could continue to utilize his skills. We divided up the poems and essays equally. Then we would do our own translations; next we would exchange them and edit each other’s work.

Which edition of Rosalía de Castro’s texts did you use?

Castro, Rosalía de. Obras completas. Ed. Marina Mayoral. 2 vols. Madrid: Biblioteca Castro, 1993.

What were the main criteria you used in your selection?

The main criteria used included selections that we found meaningful, beautiful and artistic in addition to seeking a wide representation of Rosalía’s themes. We wanted readers to have a very good idea of who she was.

Was there a difference between translating texts from Galician and Spanish?

I would say that I particularly enjoyed translating the Galician texts because I think they truly represent Rosalía’s greatest work.

Did you receive any input from the publisher – did they comment on the translation or did they limit themselves to publishing the book?

The manuscript was sent out for review and one critic thought the manuscript was too long, so we shortened it a bit. As I recall, there were no comments that stand out about the actual translations. The comments were more directed to the introduction, which they found rather prosaic, and, thinking about it, I would have to agree.

What kind of reception has the book received? How well has it been distributed?

We have received some comments here and there, but not much beyond that. That’s all right. We understood when we undertook the project that it would probably fill a lacuna for a small group of people. We do hope, though, that professors may bring some of her poems into their classrooms.

What place do you think Rosalía de Castro occupies in world literature today?

I believe that Rosalía de Castro occupies a place that is edging closer to that of Emily Dickinson, her U.S. contemporary with whom she shares numerous thematic and stylistic points of contact. These two women were philosopher-poets who pondered and felt deeply.

Rosalía Translators – Interview with Michael Smith

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication in Vigo of Rosalía de Castro’s Galician Songs, recently published in English for the first time, we continue our series of interviews with the editors/translators of the three anthologies of Rosalía’s Galician and Spanish poetry available in English.

Today is the interview with Michael Smith, who edited and translated Rosalía de Castro’s Selected Poems for Shearsman Books in 2007. We will be publishing a poem Michael wrote for Rosalía Day, ‘The Poet Out of Time & Place’, this Sunday on this blog.

What made you want to translate work by Rosalía de Castro?

I had come across her name in various books on feminism, but, when I went to look for her poems, I found that these were unavailable or had been poorly translated or were in a dated English. The best I found were the translations by the Scottish poet Edwin Morgan (which still seem to me to read well). Besides that, I was aware of her role in reviving Galician, which has a great deal in common with the Irish experience of reviving poetry in Gaelic after many years of marginalisation and neglect. I also felt that the feminists who wrote about Rosalía seemed more concerned with feminism than with the poetry. At any rate, I felt that Rosalía deserved decent recognition in English. I might also add that, as an Irish poet, I felt a deep affinity with the Galician background. That affinity was very helpful in empathising with Rosalía’s work.

How difficult was it to find a publisher? Who made the initial contact, you or the publisher?

I initiated the project, but I had no difficulty in finding a publisher. Tony Frazer of Shearsman Books had already published many of my translations from Spanish and, once I had sent him my small anthology of Rosalía’s work, he immediately agreed to publish it.

Which edition of Rosalía de Castro’s texts did you use?

I used the Obras completas in two volumes, edited by Marina Mayoral (Madrid: Turner, Biblioteca Castro, 1993).

What were the main criteria you used in your selection?

My main criteria were the quality of the poems and the possibility of their being translated into an English that was readable and pleasurable and at the same time faithful to their originals, at least in the sense that any translation can be ‘faithful’ to its original.

Was there a difference between translating texts from Galician and Spanish?

Now, I don’t know Galician, but with the help of Spanish literal translations and the help of two Galician friends, José Manuel Estévez Saá and Margaret Estévez Saá, I was able to cope comfortably enough with the Galician. Two Spanish friends of mine, Luis Huerga and my longtime co-translator from Spanish, Luis Ingelmo, were extremly helpful in checking my translations of the poems in Spanish.

Did you receive any input from the publisher – did they comment on the translation or did they limit themselves to publishing the book?

Tony Frazer was extremely pleased with the book and gave it an unreserved acceptance.

What kind of reception has the book received? How well has it been distributed?

I honestly don’t know how well the book was received, but four of my translations have been included in the prestigious Norton Anthology of World Literature, so clearly the book has not been ignored.

What place do you think Rosalía de Castro occupies in world literature today?

Although not quite in the same league as Emily Dickinson, Rosalía should rank with Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti and (as a poet) Emily Brontë.

One last thing. I am hoping to persuade some good bilingual Irish poet to translate Rosalía’s poetry into Gaelic. Her work would find a very sympathetic acceptance in that language.

Rosalía Translators – Interview with Anna-Marie Aldaz

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication in Vigo of Rosalía de Castro’s Galician Songs, the cornerstone of modern Galician literature and recently published in English for the first time in Erín Moure’s translation by Small Stations Press and Xunta de Galicia.

To celebrate this fact, we have conducted interviews with the editors/translators of the three anthologies of Rosalía’s Galician and Spanish poetry available in English. These are Poems (1991), edited and translated by Anna-Marie Aldaz, Barbara N. Gantt and Anne C. Bromley; Selected Poems (2007), edited and translated by Michael Smith; and The Poetry and Prose of Rosalía de Castro (2010), edited and translated by John P. Dever and Aileen Dever. A fourth anthology, now only available second-hand, is Poems of Rosalía de Castro (1964), edited by Xosé Filgueira Valverde and translated by Charles David Ley.

We start with Anna-Marie Aldaz, who kindly agreed to answer the following questions:

What made you want to translate work by Rosalía de Castro?

While attending an American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) conference, my friend and colleague Barbara Gantt and I came across an announcement by the State University of New York (SUNY) asking for submissions for its series Women Writers in Translation. After some discussion, we decided that Rosalía de Castro would be an excellent candidate because we felt that she was too little known in the English-speaking world.

How difficult was it to find a publisher? Who made the initial contact, you or the publisher?

We submitted our proposal to SUNY, where it was met with great interest by the series editor. Even so, it took time and effort to clear the path to acceptance.

There were three of you translating this book. How did you share the workload?

After selecting the poems we wanted to translate, Barbara and I divided the task. We met frequently to read each other’s translations and revise them. When we were finally satisfied with our versions, we asked another friend, the poet Anne Bromley, to read and critique them. After a discussion of her suggestions, we came up with what would be the final version.

Which edition of Rosalía de Castro’s texts did you use?

The edition we used – Rosalía de Castro, Obras completas. 7th ed. (Madrid: Aguilar, 1982) – was the latest one available at the time we worked on the poems (the late 1980s). It includes the original selections by Victoriano García Martí and additional ones by Arturo del Hoyo.

What were the main criteria you used in your selection?

Since our main aim was to make Rosalía better known in the English-speaking world, we chose relatively short, mostly lyrical poems from her three major books (Cantares gallegos, Follas novas and En las orillas del Sar), hoping this sampler would illustrate her innovative style, pervasive moods and recurrent themes.

Was there a difference between translating texts from Galician and Spanish?

The Galician texts were at times linguistically more challenging, but we felt that many of the poems Rosalía wrote in her native language best captured her most intimate thoughts and deeply felt emotions.

Did you receive any input from the publisher – did they comment on the translation or did they limit themselves to publishing the book?

We did not receive any comments on the translation. However, since our book was part of a series, there were definite guidelines regarding the format. This meant that, much to our chagrin, our book could not be a bilingual edition.

What kind of reception has the book received? How well has it been distributed?

Though overall favorable, the initial critical reception was fairly low-key, but some recent studies have seen our book as groundbreaking. Around 250 libraries hold a copy and, given that SUNY had the foresight of digitalizing our book soon after its publication in 1991, the book can also be accessed online from over 500 libraries worldwide.

What place do you think Rosalía de Castro occupies in world literature today?

It is gratifying to see that Rosalía’s stature has continued to increase steadily over the years and that she is now rightfully recognized as one of the outstanding figures in world literature.

Fourth anthology published of Rosalía de Castro’s poetry

Edwin Mellen Press, who previously published two books of Galician literature in English, recently brought out a new anthology of Rosalía de Castro’s poetry, The Poetry and Prose of Rosalía de Castro: A Bilingual Facing Page Edition, edited and translated by John and Aileen Dever. Three anthologies of her poetry had appeared before this.

The Devers’ anthology contains a total of 103 poems from her three main books of poetry – Cantares gallegos, Follas novas and En las orillas del Sar – as well as short prose excerpts from Lieders, La hija del mar and Las literatas.

John Dever is emeritus professor of foreign languages and literature at Western Connecticut State University, while his daughter, Aileen Dever, is associate professor of modern languages at Quinnipiac University, also in Connecticut.

Erín Moure to translate Rosalía de Castro and Luis Pimentel

The Canadian poet and translator Erín Moure has agreed to translate two poems for the bilingual Anthology of Galician Literature to be published by Xerais and Galaxia in 2010. She will translate the poem from Follas novas by Rosalía de Castro and the poem by Luis Pimentel.

Erín Moure’s 1988 poetry collection Furious won the Governor General’s Award, and she has twice won the A M Klein Prize for Poetry: in 1990 for WSW and in 2005 for Little Theatres. She has three times been shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize worth $50,000: in 2002 for Sheep’s Vigil by a Fervent Person (a translation of Fernando Pessoa’s O Guardador de Rebanhos), in 2006 for Little Theatres and in 2008 for her co-translation of Notebook of Roses and Civilization by Nicole Brossard. Little Theatres was published as Teatriños by Editorial Galaxia in 2007.

Erín translates from French, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish. In addition to Pessoa and Brossard, she has translated two books by Chus Pato for Shearsman Books in England and BuschekBooks in Canada: Charenton and m-Talá. She was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from Brandon University in recognition of her contributions to poetry.

It is an honour to be able to count on Erín’s presence in the anthology, translating poems chosen for the anthology by Carmen Blanco (from Follas novas) and by Luz Pozo Garza (by Luis Pimentel).