Tentatively, Convenience's Reviews > Bombay Gin 36: 1

Merdre! I am such a problem child! Here I am giving this a 4 star rating instead of a 5 star one (unlike the previous 2 raters) even though I quite possibly like this MORE than the other people who've rated it. Why? B/C I WANT IT TO GO FURTHER!

BUT, don't misunderstand! I like this issue alot (it's the only issue I've read of Bombay Gin so far but I intend to read a whole lot more in the very near future).

I've been contributing to small press magazines since the 1970s: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, RAWZ, Hard Crabs, DOC(K)S, HOMEX, etc (see a very outdated bibliography @: ) & I have a deep & enduring love for such publications: THESE ARE THE PLACES WHERE THE MOST ORIGINAL, THE MOST IMAGINATIVE, THE NEWEST, THE MOST LOVINGLY CREATED WORK IS. By the time it gets to more mainstream collections like the Norton ones the work is no longer fresh - it's still good - but not 'hot off the presses'.

STILL, even w/ this longstanding & enduring love of mine, I tend to get sidetracked into other types of publications such as larger edition bks & to neglect the small presses for awhile. BOMBAY GIN brought me back to 'reality'. This issue in particular was very exciting for me & reminded me that I shd spend WAY MORE TIME on reading small press (a)periodicals than I have for awhile. THIS ISSUE IS GREAT!!

There's a "Translation Portfolio" here & I'm very interested in translation - not b/c I'm a translator in the conventional sense of someone who speaks multiple languages & translates from one to the other - but b/c I'm interested in reading in general as 'translating' & b/c I've conducted alotof experiments w/ translating.

Very importantly for me in this issue of Bombay Gin is the Jerome Rothenberg section. I'm told by the managing editor, Amy Catanzano (who was kind enuf to give me this issue & many others), that Rothenberg's translations of the HORSE SONGS OF FRANK MITCHELL & Rothenberg's "Total Translation" article are collected here together for the 1st time. AND A VERY POTENT COMBINATION IT IS!! I've 'known' about Rothenberg for decades but this BG is the publication that firmly told me just how important JR's work is. It's amazing.

In his total translations of the Horse Songs, things that wd ordinarily be left out take center stage & the reader is reminded that from one language to another there's much that can be lost if things are ignored or downplayed that aren't important or understood in the 2nd language. IMO, NO language directly translates into another. Even something as simple as the word "anything" in English doesn't exactly directly translate into German, eg (Thanks to my friend Florian Cramer for the heads-up on that one). Is the Malay "mata hari" ("eye in the sky" or "eye of the dawn") really so easily translated into "sun" in English? There's a BIG cultural difference there.

But Rothenberg's contribution is hardly the only thing of interest here: There's so much I won't be referring to at all.. but Scott Alexander Jones' "from Elsewhere", Shy Mukerjee's translation of "Computer Language", the visual poetry translations of Basho by Kade Alexander Jensen, the excellent reviews, etc, etc.. Shucks! There's even mention of anarchist Voltarine de Cleyre on p18!!

All in all, an excellent issue - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! I just wish all journal type publications wd step outside of paperback-style form & be more adventurous in binding & such-like - hence the 4 stars instead of 5..