Category Archives: Translations

Intersection of Temporalities

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Francois Lachance

To the writing belongs one time series. In Wabi Sabi, a book by Mark Reibstein with art by Ed Young, there “are Japanese haiku that appear decoratively throughout the book.” They are also gathered at the end with transliterations and … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Translations | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Praise of Rural Life

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Kenneth Rexroth gave this poem by Lu Yu the title “Evening in the Village”. I like to call it “Retirement”. Here in the mountain village Evening falls peacefully. Half tipsy, I lounge in the Doorway. The moon shines in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Translations | Leave a comment

This nor This is not That and not I

Posted on October 4, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Amazing syntactic twist unfolds round a series of negations marking transitoriness and ending with endurance of the self… This is not the moon, Nor is this the spring, Of other springs, And I alone Am still the same Translated by … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Translations | Leave a comment

Patterns, Rhythms,

Posted on June 10, 2012 by Francois Lachance

First the injunction: The structural theme must be conceived dynamically, as a pattern of forces, not an arrangement of static shapes. Rudolf Arnheim, Entropy and Art: An Essay on Disorder and Order From force to actant: In 1968, Barthes pointed … Continue reading →

Posted in Translations | Leave a comment

Elevated in the Passive Voice

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Francois Lachance

08/03/01 entry in a notebook Jut read a passage in Apollinaire Voici s’élever des prophètes Comme au loin des collines bleues Ils sauront des choses précises Comme croient savoir les savants Et nous transporteront partout The last line of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Translations | Leave a comment

Accroche-toi à ton rêve

Posted on April 15, 2012 by Francois Lachance

150 stories | 150 récits Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario It’s a collection of vignettes and thought pieces with French and English side by side. From the conclusion of the text by Janice Stein recounting an encounter on … Continue reading →

Posted in Translations | Leave a comment

Poverty of Means & Proper Nuance

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Francois Lachance

Philip Stratford “Translation as Creation” in Figures in a Ground: Canadian Essays on Modern Literature Collected in Honor of Sheila Watson edited by Diane Bessai and David Jackel. It is preferable to struggle to find the right word in your … Continue reading →

Posted in Translations | Leave a comment

Cabbage Baggage

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Francois Lachance

in the mode of bpNicol i came across this translation while in the dentist’s chair and looking up at the television which featured a news feed which was accompanied by a screen scroll of closed captions while an anchor was … Continue reading →

Posted in Translations | Tagged | Leave a comment

Suspended in Translation; Translated in Suspension

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Francois Lachance

She leaves it untranslated. une langue qui abandonne son nid ne goute plus aux oiseaux There is a bit of trickiness in capturing the ambiguity of tasting like a bird but there it is — the language tastes of bird … Continue reading →

Posted in Booklore, Poetry, Translations | Leave a comment

Aciola

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Francois Lachance

In The Physiology of Taste, after extolling the ne plus ultra concoction of chocolate (cocoa, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla), Brillat-Savarin goes on to enumerate other “adjuncts”. It is to this small number of substances that taste and experience have reduced … Continue reading →

Posted in Food Writing, Translations | Leave a comment