Recently read poet Jay Hopler’s Still Life, written after his terminal cancer diagnosis. Far from being somber, it’s a life-affirming, irreverent testament to the moments and things that matter most, including family. I also recommend his 2016 work, The Abridged History of Rainfall.

So few excel at both poetry and prose. Michael Ondaatje (of The English Patient fame) immediately comes to mind. Ben Lerner is another to remember. The Lights probes what dwells beyond our conscious knowing, illuminating it however briefly. Such striking, intelligent art.

I get a small but helpful payment every month for my Nakahara Chuya translation… but if you could purchase from the website (if you’re interested), rather than Amazon, that’s even more helpful! Thank you. brightwavemedia.com/product/chuy...

I’ve been too busy to bother posting these last few months but never too busy to read. My favorite book of poetry over this period was Brandon Som’s Tripas: Poems, which explores his Mexican and Chinese heritage. Compelling subject matter presented through engaging technique.

I'll remember this email my entire life.

Alfred Corn’s recent translation of Duino Elegies gives perhaps the most rigorous attempt to date at translation accuracy with Rilke, and in his introduction, he explains some of his decisions and innovations in detail. The attention to Rilke’s uncanny language is inspiring, but…

Boulder, Colorado had some fantastic bookstores, among them, Trident, which doubles as an excellent cafe. Picked up a copy Alfred Corn’s translation of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. One of the better versions out there. Stephen Mitchell’s 1982 is still my favorite—it still holds up, amazingly.

A latte flight at Cristo’s Coffee in Boulder, CO. What a great idea! Enjoying with Hanna Pylväinen’s The End of Drum-time.

From Denver onward to Boulder, CO for the next @umphreys.com show! Who’s joining us? @jambandnews.bsky.social

A modest but satisfying stack of books for Christmas. On breaks I steadfastly refuse to read anything even remotely related to my specialty. Well, I guess poetry in translation counts… I’ve been looking forward to reading Alexis Wright for some time.

Auster’s mammoth (866 pages) late novel has been the perfect long holiday read. I’d wanted to revisit him since he passed away earlier this year, and this was the right one for that reacquaintance. Such limpid prose and attention to mundane detail like the best realists. Pair with Roth readings.

Interestingly, I’ve had a couple of groups in Japan asking me for permission to use some of my translations for AI-research and improvement. I appreciated that they at least asked… I wonder if there are legal reasons in Japan (will have to ask an IT lawyer I know).

Although I translate Japanese poetry, my introduction into the ‘art’ of translating involved Tranströmer, specifically the 1987 Selected Poems edited by Robert Frost, assigned to me in college by poet John Matthias, a former Stanford classmate of Hass and Pinsky’s who all studied under Yvor Winters.

Reading this was like going to a really nice coffee shop, ordering a latte in a beautiful ceramic mug, and it’s filled completely with milk foam. You sip politely and smile, already thinking about lunch.

Your weekend analog shot. Jake (guitar) and Dani (keyboards) of the band Eggy, at Salvage Station, NC (8.30.24). Pentax 6x7 with Kodak 400.

Since I love recommending books… For a combo of satire, dystopian setting, and adventure, I highly recommend Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son. 🧵(1/3)

This past weekend, gleefully visited my go-to bookstore @ebbooksellers.bsky.social for its new opening after its old home burned down in a building fire. Cozier now but great selection still. Picked up a couple gifts for readers in my family (the Fosse book is for me). May it thrive anew!

Eric, let me add to thy Elton John cover cornucopia: youtu.be/0XymrMA8X4A?... (psst, dig into the Umphrey’s McGee cover song collections; they’re incredible…)

Your weekend analog shot. Guitarist Jake Cinninger and keyboardist Joel Cummins (@goldlikejoel.bsky.social) of Umphrey's Mcgee (@umphreys.com) at Salvage Station (Asheville, NC), 8/30/24. Ilford Delta 3200 (pulled to 1600) using a Pentax 6x7. (@jambandnews.bsky.social)

One of my passions outside of academia but related to Japan is kiln-fired yakimono (ceramics), and my favorite artist is Inayoshi Osamu. He creates traditional forms but with contemporary flare. Imagine green tea in those gorgeous tea bowl (2nd photo), or sipping sake from that guinomi (3rd photo).

As a general rule, I never disturb my cats wherever they light, but this is going to require some diplomacy (I only set it down to go grab a drink and…).

RIP Tanikawa Shuntaro, a poet of astonishing accomplishments--which include coming up with the translation "yare yare" for "good grief" in the "Peanuts" comic strips. www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...

Reading this, I’m reminded a lot of some of Kawabata’s work. He was less about stream-of-consciousness than a narrative perspective that drifted. His novel The Lake is a great late example and, I feel, perhaps his most underrated work. I teach it in my survey course; student reception is love/hate.

Just insert “tour de force” in the description and everything will sell… it should also include “achievement” in some form. Use the word “ineluctable” carefully, as you’d do with truffles. Its deployment demands a particular time, place, and palate.

I feel that Tokyo is so big it can accommodate much more. The problem is when those visitors feed out to smaller cities that are ill-equipped to cope. I get pulled into a lot of consulting/work to address that but local bureaucrats make terrible decisions or remain paralyzed as to what to do.

In case you needed another reason to like Frank Zappa… All singular geniuses like cats, by the way.

I’ve been reading this marvelous work thinking about how stream-of-consciousness narrative techniques (speaking broadly) have made a notable comeback in the last decade, roughly 100 years after their golden age. I thought SoC had mostly run its course, but clearly not! Got any favorites?

Gone, Never to Return: My Love Affair with Nakahara Chuya. I thought this would be a guilty pleasure read, but Hasegawa Yasuko’s writing is good, the anecdotes entertaining (Chuya was a piece of work), and some of the details enlightening in the context of his poetry.

A sign seen in Berkeley. (This shall be the beginning of a series).

Even in decay there is order, however cruel, however relentless. Not mentioned enough about this book: the amazing job translator George Szirtes did in convincingly translating the dense, hyper-conscious narrative voice.

Is there a literary translators starter pack out there or shall I create one?

Umphrey’s McGee in Paso Robles, CA, 7.20.24. Pentax 6x7 with Ilford Delta film pulled to 1600. Don’t know UM? Think Frank Zappa meets Rage Against the Machine meets Phish meets everything great from 1990s music… one of the most underrated live bands in America.

I’d never been more restless to finish a book. It wasn’t the meandering narrative (I like that in certain works); I think I just had too many good authors in the queue: Fosse, Krasznahorkai, etc. I was encouraged at least to see her return to fiction.

Finally got around to ‘summer reading’ as I was teaching two courses at Cal this summer (and reading plenty of work for those). The first two installments of Whitehead’s planned crime fiction trilogy were… entertaining enough. Will read the 3rd but prefer his literary fiction.

Bolano’s poetry anticipates his later great work 2666 in the way a sense of dread always seems to be seeping in from the edges. There’s not a sense of hope—that’s too fragile—but of hard-earned fortitude. As Beckett said: “You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.”

The poetry section at City Lights Books is vast. I don’t ever go into SF without dropping in. Bolano is widely known as a novelist (2666 is both dazzling and dark), but poetry was his start. @oliverdelapaz.bsky.social is a poet I’m including in my Neurodiversity in Lit course at Cal.

One aspect of this I admired was that the translator chose to leave the religious and/or obscure terminology ‘as is’, rather than explain it (I imagine the original was much the same). As a translator of Japanese I often encounter this conundrum.

This past year or so I’ve tried to mix more ‘tomes’ (600+ pgs) into my reading. I went in thinking that they should be transcendent to be worth it. Works like 2666 absolutely cleared that bar. Marlon James’ work challenged that assumption/litmus test the most… (1/3)

Must I credit them as co-translators? (Besides Mishima, who else had a thing for cats?)

I try, as much as possible, to read books outside my academic specialty (Japanese literature); it’s refreshing and often illuminates work in my specialty in unexpected ways. A small stack here of books/gifts received over the holidays. That slender green one is William Faulkner’s early poetry book!

“The years since then lie like shrapnel in my open hand.” -Richard Powers, Bewilderment I think Powers is one of the more intelligent and imaginative writers out there. And his prose is often lit with sudden, surprising sparks like this.

Traveling light back to my undergrad alma mater (Notre Dame). I always try to pace my reading so that I can start a new book on the plane and spend several hours with it to settle in. I don’t typically do work or academic reading in transit. Powers is a higher power…

I'm putting together a Neurodiversity in Film course (supplementary to my Neurodiversity in Literature course at Cal), and feel like the body of material is much richer. Does anyone out there have favorite films or TV series with neurodivergent characters and/or stories?

Just learned that Jesmyn Ward's new novel, Let Us Descend, is out. An indy bookstore visit may be in order this weekend. Which means I'll end up coming up with a couple more books beyond this one...

For some excerpts of my translations of Chuya's poetry as well as analog shots of my 15+ years in Japan, please check out my Instagram site, too: www.instagram.com/rybeville/

If you like poetry, please consider my recent (re)translation of famed 20th century Japanese poet Chuya Nakahara's first volume, Poems of the Goat. It's a bilingual edition with essays and extensive notes. The culmination of nearly two decades of scholarship. brightwavemedia.com/product/chuy...