Charting the Here of There: French & American Poetry in Translation in Literary Magazines, 1850-2002.
Granary Books & New York Public Library, 2002. Item #GB_111
ISBN: 9781887123631
7 x 10 in., 166 pp., smyth-sewn in wrappers.
Charting the Here of There: French & American Poetry in Translation in Literary Magazines, 1850–2002 is a companion to The New York Public Library exhibition “Reviews of Two Worlds: French-American Literary Periodicals, 1945–2000.” Written by Guy Bennett and Béatrice Mousli (co-curators of The New York Public Library exhibition), Charting the Here of There contains a world of French-American exchange—a world governed by back-and-forth, double consciousness, the magic inherent in translation and mistranslation, as well as the fantastic, poetic mystery and possibility which comes out of this articulation “across the pond.” Bennett and Mousli document the high points of this ongoing exchange as it writes itself on the pages of French and American literary magazines from 1850 through to the present. The result is an impeccable overview of production testifying to the undeniable, often indefinable bond joining French and American poetry.
The authors survey the past 150 years of transatlantic contact, making the case that literary magazines have served as the telegraph/telephone/e-mail connection for a variety of literary dialogues, permitting, with relative speed and facility, the transmission of poetry and poetic impulse. Charting the Here of There examines the ephemeral, periodic quality of the “little review” and how it has provided a unique forum for the sustained exchange of ideas that continue to inform the writing of French and American poets. Bennett and Mousli bring the investigation right up to the advent of web-based publishing, asserting that the products of this exchange have been projected into a new dimension, and are endowed with a presence and immediacy that seem to erase the real time and space separating the two countries, moving their respective poetries even closer.
Designed by Julie Harrison, cover image by Timothy C. Ely. This is from an edition of 2000 copies in wrappers. Out-of-print. As new.
Price: $24.95