hope you get to read elvira vigna one day, our best
Discussion
thank you— she is now on my list. I really enjoyed those two books you recommended in the summer. When I searched her online— just now— saw her birthday is September 29th.
see? universe is sending a signal haha
yes! Reading a piece in now in the October 5th issue of The New York Review of Books by Larry Rohter… reading about Brazil (from the outside) about some works by Mário de Andrade. Any worth reading? 
Maybe this: “Macunaima can only be a bear to translate, and the first English-language version, which appeared in 1984, was rather stodgy, with much of the book's distinctive character sacri-ficed. But Dodson, the winner of a PEN translation prize for The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector, acquits herself commendably here, managing to capture the playfulness, whimsicality, and sheer derangement of the novel. As she acknowledges, "Andrade's rhapsody revels in a confusion of tongues and deliberately emphasizes the instability and error that plague any attempt to codify systems of knowledge." Given the chaos he induces, her endnotes provide a welcome anchor, particularly in their explanation of terms and legends from Tupi language and folklore.”
This is what is luring me… “error that plague any attempt to codify systems of knowledge." & that she translated Clarice Lispector.
I didnt know bout dodson work, I’ll look for here. but yo… mario was our most proeminent modernist, along with oswald de andrade (not relatives, lol, but brothers in anthropophagy) any book of him is worth the read, tho macunaíma is the most celebrated indeed. I personally prefer oswald, he was more of a rebel kind (and so was his wife, pagu, they had edited a panflet/journal called “man of the people” [o homem do povo], amazing stuff, I have all the editions — a relic), but one must love mario as well.
Oswald de Andrade marks the 3rd Brazilian author to read. I deeply appreciate your insight! I wish I didn’t need a translator— but grateful for talented & artful ones. I will check in with some translators I know to get some thoughts— Thank you!
spread the word, sista.
and welp… as much as I don't like the situation, truth is AI is solving the problem, at least partially.
Yes— and I will look for the authors today at a book store— heading there to hear K Patrick talk about their book.
Free livestream tickets available: https://cityofasylum.org/program/litfest-desire-dissonance/
guess I’ve heard something bout it? now you made me curious enough to look for the novel.
The conversation was lovely— excited to read the book. I purchased it— and also met K. Patrick & discovered we both love Fanny Howe poetry. I looked for the Brazilian authors— no luck— but it was busy so I did not ask for help— may have missed them. Will order online soon.
howe has never been translated in brazil. in the end, it's a two-way street: no one knows us there and here only the bestsellers are known. fosse, for example: there is a single book of him translated here and published by a small independent publisher. of course, this will soon change. then again.
Awards usually result in more translations— hopefully. And better still if you actually want to read the author. Will keep my eyes peeled for the books you mentioned.
Looking through old photos… shared these lines from a Fanny Howe poem on Twitter in 2019 — if my photo app is right. I still get chills when I read it. 
strong. I’ve downloaded her selected poems, thanks to you.
Wow!! Hope you enjoy them. I got the book “Come & See” — where you can find this poem— off my shelves now.
whole poem:
“Out of It
During re-education you can't learn.
Fear of the fist
produces self-censorship.
Thought wavers.
You fear ideas.
The ferry lets out a yelp and you jump.
Your hands are numb and nonfunctional.
They cover your lips unable to utter a syllable.
What have you learned?
The nurse in blue
loosens your wristwatch to let the blood flow.
Up you jump and run
when an angry man comes in. This is a house of true learning.
You must, you must avoid that fist!”
~Fanny Howe 
One more…. (hope it’s not too heavy)
“I have humiliated myself so I can participate in the city.
I have smothered my own cries in order to survive.
I have tied myself down to the number system
so I can disappear into the stream of the economy.
Whenever an old woman is seen going
into a dark forest with two children you know they are escaping.
They are not dying. Why else would they be so bright of eye?”
~Fanny Howe 
so… nostr 💜
What’s interesting about the poem is her use of “I” — for 5 lines— then a transition into “old woman” — and then she addresses a “you.”
The aspect of time intrigues me— the type of poem that can be placed in many places— “dark forest” — real & surreal
“humiliation” — a powerful word. Invokes the audience on multiple levels.
the use of they caught my attention. it’s how howe autorefers, no? dark forest would be themselves then as well as the woman and the two children, holistic af thus timeless
damn, woman. this must be translated.