THE TRANSLATOR and TBOTNS

Adam Stephanides · 12 Mar 2002, 20:28 · from urth-v0203.mbox · original

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From: Adam Stephanides <adamsteph at earthlink.net>
Subject: (urth) THE TRANSLATOR and TBOTNS
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 14:28:10 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0203-337 at digest.urth.net>
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On pp. 178-80 of John Crowley's new novel THE TRANSLATOR, there is a poem
(actually the first draft of a translation of a poem) written by a Russian
poet in exile during the Cold War which begins:

In some worlds my torturer is but a man as I am
And his bosses are men, as well
And their bosses men like me
And the leader a man, a man I myself could be.

The third stanza is:

In some worlds my torturer is a being not like me
And his father is a fallen angel
whose father is a heedless god
whose father is the abyss to whom the leader bows.

And the fourth stanza ends with the line:

In some he never dies, outlives the sun.

In his LOCUS interview Crowley doesn't mention having read Wolfe; but if he
really hasn't read TBOTNS it's a remarkable coincidence.

Incidentally, while I haven't yet finished THE TRANSLATOR, I recommend it
highly, although it's quite a bit different from his other novels.

--Adam

--=20

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