Barry Graham's Blog, page 50

Robert Burns: Scottish Zen

Today is the birthday of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet, and one of the great Zen poets of the West.

But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow falls in the river,
A moment white - then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow’s lovely form
Evanishing amid the storm.

Laurence Viallet will translate The Book of Man into French

I just heard from my new French publisher that The Book of Man is to be translated by Laurence Viallet, who has translated Junot Diaz, Dave Eggers, David Wojnarowicz and James Frey. I’m very happy about this, both that the book is to be published in French, and that it’s in such good hands.

Question to sit, walk or dance with

When the wind blows, the trees dance.

Where does the dance begin?

Obama compared "slandering the Prophet of Islam" to Holocaust denial

Obama compared "slandering the Prophet of Islam" to Holocaust denial:

This is from a speech the president delivered to the United Nations General Assembly in 2012:

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. But to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see in the images of Jesus Christ that are desecrated, or churches that are destroyed, or the Holocaust that is denied.

Tanka

Winter city night, woodsmoke,
dark street, bright window—
woman stands holding baby,
looks down, talks to man
sitting on chair.

Kawabata's First Snow on Fuji translated by Emmerich

I’m re-reading Kawabata’s story collection First Snow on Fuji, translated by Michael Emmerich. I’m glad to be able to read the book in English, but I think Emmerich is the weakest of Kawabata’s translators. In his translation, Kawabata’s immaculate sentences are often rendered clumsy to the point of vulgarity, and much of the dialogue is in a strange, unspecific American English idiom. Coming via Emmerich, Kawabata’s mystery sometimes seem more like meaning...

Just published: When the Light-Bulb Is Bare

Just published: When the Light-Bulb Is Bare:

I finished writing The Book of Man 21 years ago today

I woke in the afternoon of the first day of 1994, having slept off the debaucheries of a Scottish New Year celebration. I thought I was a few weeks away from finishing The Book of Man, which I had been working on for two and a half years. I took a walk around Leith in the cold, went home, thawed out, ate dinner, brewed a pot of tea and decided to to do a bit of work on the book. When I went to bed, the book was finished. I couldn’t have imagined the doors it would open for me, and I’m still g...

Sign up for my mailing list and get a free short story

Subscribe to my mailing list, and I’ll say thanks by sending you a new, not-yet-published short story.

I’ll email from time to time with news about new books, articles and events. Your email address won’t be shared with anyone else.

David Cronenberg's Consumed is half a story

Consumed by David Cronenberg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Great first half, but then it falls apart and never comes back together. A bunch of false starts never go anywhere or connect, let alone get resolved, and there’s no ending—it just stops.

View all my reviews