Subject: (urth) Crowley's The Translator

From: Russell Wodell <hse at telus.net>
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2002 16:11:31 +0000

Notes from a first reading:

1. The source seems to be Auden's famous quote that poets are the
unacknowledged legislators of reality. Here, this seems to be interpreted as
poet=saint or poet=angel.

2. Crowley seems to be saying that the peaceful resolution of the Cuban
Missile Crisis was a literal miracle. Exactly how an exiled Russian poet
could prevent nuclear war is left as teasingly unclear as the actions of the
fairies in "Little, Big."

3. The poetic concept that each nation has two opposing angels seems to be
meant literally as well -- but Crowley is a recovering Catholic and is
deeply ambiguous about this. There are several candidates for America's dark
angel.

4. The hostile NY Times review complained that Crowley's invented Russian
poetry was awful. I strongly disagree: I found it moving and much more
authentic than, say D.M. Thomas's similar efforts in his novels (though his
translations of actual poetry are sometime marvellous).
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From: Matthew Davis <matthew at michaelscycles.freeserve.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 13:26:21 +0000

> > poet=saint or poet=angel.

The "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" quote is from
Shelley, not Auden. "Poet" in Greek means "maker", so poets _are_ the
creators of our world, in as much they shape our understanding of them.
Besides Nabokov and Brodsky, I also wonder how much Robert Frost might be an
influence - at the time of the Cuba Crisis I think he made some notable
comment but I can't remember what. But then again copies of "The Translator"
haven't even begun appearing over in the UK, so what do I know.

> > I haven't seen this review yet (was it in the NYTBR, or in the daily
paper?)

Reviews of Crowley's Translator so far:

Locus, February 2002 (Faren Miller) - not online

Book Magazine, March/April 2002 (James Schiff)
http://www.bookmagazine.com/issue21/capsules.shtml#Crowley

New York Times, March 13, 2002 (Richard Eder)
http://query.nytimes.com/search/full-page?res=9B01E0DE1539F930A25750C0A9649C
8B63

Christian Science Monitor, March 21, 2002 (Ron Charles)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0321/p15s02-bogn.html

Salon, March 21, 2002 (Laura Miller)
http://www.salon.com/books/review/2002/03/21/crowley/index.html?x

Washington Post Book World, March 24, 2002 (Howard Norman)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A2
76-2002Mar21¬Found=true

San Francisco Chronicle, March 24, 2002 (Miriam Wolf)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/03/24/RV
128730.DTL

Booksense magazine has an interview with Crowley about "The Translator"
http://www.booksense.com/people/archive/crowleyjohn.jsp

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 16:48:38 +0000

on 3/31/02 7:26 AM, Matthew Davis at matthew at michaelscycles.freeserve.co.uk
wrote:

> comment but I can't remember what.

Frost read a poem at Kennedy's inauguration, referred to on p. 4 of THE
TRANSLATOR (which also has another reference to the Shelley quote).  Neither
Falin's poems nor Kit's own poems seem Frost-like to men, though I don't
know that much about poetry.

--Adam

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2002 15:29:08 +0000

on 3/29/02 10:11 AM, Russell Wodell at hse at telus.net wrote:

> poetry was awful.

I read the review cited by Matthew Davis, in the Mar. 13 NYT, and in fact it
praises Falin's poetry.  Was there another NYT review?  I'd call the review
as a whole mixed rather than hostile; the reviewer praises the character of
Falin highly (though I strongly disagree with the statement that Kit is a
"pallid figure").

--Adam

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