tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post6664034368684926926..comments2023-10-03T11:41:21.191+01:00Comments on The Truth About Lies: The Cavafy VariationsJim Murdochhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-72009451876190258062013-11-19T11:18:37.028+00:002013-11-19T11:18:37.028+00:00When I read what people were saying about him, Mar...When I read what people were saying about him, <b>Marion</b>, how they were lauding him I have to say it did make me wonder because although I enjoy his little philosophical poems—right down my street they are—I do struggle to see what so great about them. Maybe they’re only truly great in the original Greek. Part of the problem is that much water has passed under the bridge since then. I mean, compare his poem ‘Walls’ to Pink Floyd’s <i>The Wall</i> and give me the Floyd any day of the week.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-7823321168453961252013-11-18T16:26:05.812+00:002013-11-18T16:26:05.812+00:00Enjoyed this, Jim! Cavafy is one of those poets I&...Enjoyed this, Jim! Cavafy is one of those poets I've yet to get around to reading, this has been a great introduction! Don't think he's my cup of tea from what I've read here but I won't write him off completely before at last reading him properly. Marion McCreadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04657757253873577465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-65718555042813765632013-11-17T22:34:40.875+00:002013-11-17T22:34:40.875+00:00This was the first I knew about this work by Hockn...This was the first I knew about this work by Hockney, <b>Kirk</b>. I’ve always had a liking for him as a person although I’m not always crazy about his art. But I love his enthusiasm. I watched him once—on TV admittedly—do a pen and ink drawing of Celia Birtwell if memory serves right. He always starts with the eyes. Fascinating to watch him work. As far as gay culture in the UK in the sixties I’m really the wrong person to ask. There were no gays, no blacks, no Tories, no poets (bar me) anywhere in my childhood. Homosexuality was illegal in in England and Wales until 1967 but in Scotland it took until 1981 to change the law. Attitudes take their own good time. I was in my thirties before I met my first openly gay person—a lesbian couple as it happens—but it wasn’t until my daughter brought one of her friends home that I knowingly met my first gay man; I would’ve been forty at the time. My next contact was online about ten years later. Like I say, not the best person to ask.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-2446370231602230632013-11-17T20:42:19.574+00:002013-11-17T20:42:19.574+00:00I'm surprised the David Hockney drawing was do...I'm surprised the David Hockney drawing was done all the way back in 1966. Maybe I shouldn't be given that Cavafy published his poems much earlier than that. Proof that some people were slipping gay themes into the culture long before Stonewall (which I realize was an American thing. Maybe Europe's always been more liberated in this regard.) Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-44372469504302822712013-11-15T10:53:31.024+00:002013-11-15T10:53:31.024+00:00I've never read any Durrell, Wolf. Another one...I've never read any Durrell, <b>Wolf</b>. Another one to add to the list. Might give <i>Justine</i> a go and see how I go from there. Glad you liked the post though.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-19163152520838452952013-11-15T03:01:49.757+00:002013-11-15T03:01:49.757+00:00I think it's a natural consequence of reading ...I think it's a natural consequence of reading The Alexandria Quartet to become fascinated with Cavafy--certainly was for me. Thanks all the effort that went into this, Jim. Very satisfying fare. Wolf Pascoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09458334612341181142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-9421084880003199202013-11-15T03:01:37.531+00:002013-11-15T03:01:37.531+00:00I think it's a natural consequence of reading ...I think it's a natural consequence of reading The Alexandria Quartet to become fascinated with Cavafy--certainly was for me. Thanks all the effort that went into this, Jim. Very satisfying fare. Wolf Pascoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09458334612341181142noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-43893023618867139122013-11-12T13:04:38.608+00:002013-11-12T13:04:38.608+00:00Thanks Jim. Since you looked I've just fine-tu...Thanks Jim. Since you looked I've just fine-tuned the odd word. But the sense obviously remains.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-39624254108860149152013-11-12T11:32:31.253+00:002013-11-12T11:32:31.253+00:00I read it earlier this morning on my tablet, Gwill...I read it earlier this morning on my tablet, <b>Gwilliam</b>. Completely missed the dedication—thank you for that, I don’t get too many of those—and I sent myself a copy to compare to the original later when, hopefully, being more awake than I was then I would’ve noticed the dedication. I just compared the two. You’re right, of course, and it underlines what I’ve always believed, that man learns nothing from history. As you suggested in your last comment it would be easy enough to transfer the framework of this poem to any period in time be it the Second World War, Afghanistan or whatever’s coming next because, as sure as eggs are eggs, there will be something coming next. Nicely done.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-40799798451312619532013-11-12T10:55:26.825+00:002013-11-12T10:55:26.825+00:00Jim, Once again you are my muse! I've written ...Jim, Once again you are my muse! I've written a poem for you titled War News after your comment on my second comment on Cavafy. I've linked it to here.Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-63948501259908134862013-11-11T16:21:45.528+00:002013-11-11T16:21:45.528+00:00Glad you liked the review, seymourblogger. As far ...Glad you liked the review, <b>seymourblogger</b>. As far as the Aspartame goes I’ve steered clear of it ever since and been fine. I’m not in perfect health—ah, if only that had been the cause of all my aches and pains—but at least I can think. You can cope with pretty much anything as long as you can rub two thoughts together.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-12247171359021751032013-11-11T16:17:58.883+00:002013-11-11T16:17:58.883+00:00That's the thing, isn't it, Gwilliam? We a...That's the thing, isn't it, <b>Gwilliam</b>? We all chip in our tuppenceworth and something magical happens. Or not. The only time I ever think about Afghanistan is when the news is on. I'm not unaware there's a war going on but it's not something that's buzzing around my head getting held up against everything I come across to see if it sparks off an idea.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-10078862318009543622013-11-11T11:56:25.900+00:002013-11-11T11:56:25.900+00:00I like the third of those three the best Jim. It c...I like the third of those three the best Jim. It could be written just yesterday - substituting Afghanistan for Alexandria for example. Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-83853248826934915782013-11-11T11:42:11.426+00:002013-11-11T11:42:11.426+00:00Thank you for this beautiful review. I have reread...Thank you for this beautiful review. I have reread your blog post on Aspartame a number of times.I became convinced it was the variable in David Foster Wallace's suicide. Then I read his road trip with Lipsky for Infinite Jest and there was the proof. He drank gallons of diet coke and pepsi every day. He had cases of it in his home. I knew it when I read your post and was waiting to find confirmation.seymourbloggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02843717286012748265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-5753434292161871272013-11-11T08:17:46.017+00:002013-11-11T08:17:46.017+00:00I read these when you first posted them, Gwilliam,...I read these when you first posted them, <b>Gwilliam</b>, but they never jumped out at me then I’m afraid. It’s the thing I hate about the Internet so much. Every day I have to wade through such clutter and nothing gets the attention it deserves. Good stuff gets missed easily. This is a good wee selection. I prefer the first two because more and more these days I find myself drawn to intangible pasts. I saved a photograph a few months back which reminded me of a girl I once knew—and loved although I was probably not in love with her—because I don’t have a picture of her and find I can’t remember her face; it’s been some twenty years since I last saw her. I downloaded an app for my tablet with all of Cavafy’s poems but it’s not very good. The font is small and even when I enlarge it it reverts to tiny for the next poem.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-3433006561923691282013-11-10T19:45:28.290+00:002013-11-10T19:45:28.290+00:00Jim, I have three poems from Cavafy. I think you m...Jim, I have three poems from Cavafy. I think you might enjoy. Just enter 'cavafy' in my blog searchbox. Gwil Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03305768121713053837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-10767307425182921522013-11-10T15:12:13.436+00:002013-11-10T15:12:13.436+00:00That was the reason I included a dozen versions of...That was the reason I included a dozen versions of the same stanza, <b>Ken</b>, to try and get across how hard it is to accurately translate from one language to another. Beckett tended to do his own translations but when you look closely at what he produced they were closer to rewrites than translations. Plays on words were important to him and all that kind of stuff is the first to go so he had to find new ways to be clever. I pity anyone trying to have a go at Nabokov too. As far as the differences between prose and poetry people have been arguing about that for years. The thing is we <i>know</i> when something’s poetic even when it’s presented as prose. It’s trying to define that something that’s hard. My own poetry’s been called antipoetic and I agree that it is but you’ve read both my prose and my poetry and there’s clearly a difference and not merely in length. Poetry demands more from its readers which is why most people give up on it as soon as they’ve left school because their lives don’t incorporate the oases necessary to appreciate a poem. I think this is why endeavours like London’s Poems on the Underground work so well: a space is opened up for them, even if it’s just the length of an escalator ride, and there’re a dozen lines for them to absorb; they don’t even have to open a book to see them.<br /><br />The big question that’s really left hanging at the end of this essay is: How much should you need to know about a writer before you read his work? My own thoughts are that the more you need to know beforehand the weaker the poems are. I knew nothing about Larkin when I first read ‘Mr Bleaney’ and it blew me away. Years later when I learned what a sad git he was I wasn’t surprised but all that was added to the poem was that he had actually lived in a place like that—I even found out the address—but so what? For me Cavafy’s poems work just fine without knowing about his life but once you do there’s a whole other level to them. Does that make them bad poems? No, because they work on their own; it’s just there’s <i>more</i> available if you want to put in the work and learn about the man. That’s good writing. Which is why I suspect they work so well when translated because what makes them poetic has nothing to do with tricks of the trade.Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327348657265652781.post-89298590287869501422013-11-10T14:22:41.474+00:002013-11-10T14:22:41.474+00:00Excellent Stuff. Never heard of the man but I did ...Excellent Stuff. Never heard of the man but I did enjoy his writing as you presented it here. I'm a prose-man myself, as you know, and perhaps that's why I found the pieces to be quite accessible - at my own meagre level, at least.<br /><br />The most striking thing here, for me, is to see the various translations held up against each other. I've never seen that before with any writer and it's a revelation. How much at the mercy of the translators the poet was. It might have driven him crazy if he had known the full extent of it. Ken Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775956557261111127noreply@blogger.com