#Deborah Smith quotes

[words-and-coffee]

She headed straight to the heart of the darkness, which lacked even a single point of light, and where not even the road beneath her feet could be seen. Like a blind owl, she walked as one with the darkness, undisturbed by it.

Bae Suah, Untold Night and Day (translated by Deborah Smith)

[sharry-arry-odd]

It's your body, you can treat it however you please. The only area where you're free to do just as you like. And even that doesn't turn out how you wanted.

The Vegetarian, by Han Kang

[eggtrolls]

haiku misinformation: a fact check

there's an post going around about haiku that has a lot of incorrect information about haiku, its terminology, history, etc. I will try to debunk some of the biggest inaccuracies here. everything in quotes is a direct statement from the original post. this is also really, really long.

"Haiku are made of 14 on, which are essentially the equivalent to Japanese syllabic structures, except the nature of how Japanese as a language is constructed versus English means that any given proper haiku could be translated in extremely and intensely different ways, each giving a subtle but distinctly different meaning."

Starting off strong - haiku are (usually) made of 17 on. It's the classic 5-7-5 pattern! 5+7+5=17! [possibly this is a mix-up with wakiku (脇(わき)句(く)) which is another type of Japanese poetry that does use 14 on but who knows.]

Definitions: an on is a phonetic unit, the equivalent to a mora (pl. morae) in English. this concept a) exists in English and b) like on, is related to syllables but distinctly different from them (i.e. ba is one mora but baa with a long vowel is two morae). On can be counted using the number of hiragana (phonetic syllabic characters) when the text is transliterated, so a word like Osaka that has the long O sound (made up of 4 kana) would be 4 morae or 4 on (o-o-sa-ka; おおさか). it's not really a syllabic structure at all, and more importantly has nothing to do with translation. idk where that last part comes from because that's really...not the point here. Yes, any given "proper" haiku could be translated in different ways with a subtle but distinctly different meaning but that's true of just...translation, period. check out Deborah Smith's translation of The Vegetarian by Han Kang for more on that.

Furthermore, haiku were/are not rigidly locked into the 5-7-5 on pattern. That's just not true, which is why I said usually above. Easy example: a 1676 haiku by Matsuo Basho that uses 18-on:

冨士の風や　扇にのせて 江戸土産; ふじのかぜや おうぎにのせて えどみやげ; the wind of Fuji /I've brought on my fan/a gift from Edo <- that first line is 6-on!

2. "The best way I can explain what I mean is that in English a good poem can be defined as a shallow river, whereas a good haiku is a deeply-dug well."

Not dignifying this with a response. Deeply incorrect and untrue. @bill-blake-fans-anonymous can handle this assertion.

3. "The presence of the kigu. There is a specific series of characters/words which are used to imply a season, and specifically a specific aspect of a season which the haiku revolves around. The creation of a haiku is often done as a meditative practice revolving around the kigu--you're essentially contemplating on this particular natural feature (nearly always the temporal aspect emphasizes either ephemerality or the opposite as well bc Buddhist ideas of enlightenment and beauty begin coming into play) and building an evocative and purposeful point that revolves around it like a hinge. It functions as both ground and anchor."

First (and largest) problem: the word. is. kigo. kigo. It's ki (季; season)-go (語; word) = 季語. Both the English and Japanese language Wikipedia, or a 3-second google search, will tell you this immediately. I have no idea where the term kigu comes from.

Second problem: plenty of haiku, both traditional and contemporary, do not use kigo. these are described as muki (無季; seasonless). Matsuo Basho, the haiku-writing poet non-Japanese people are most likely to know, wrote at least ten seasonless haiku that exist today. Masaoka Shiki, the Meiji-era haiku poet and reformist, wrote hundreds of kigo-free haiku and as an agnostic, tried to separate haiku from Buddhism and focus more on the shasei, the sketches from daily life. you can actually, today, buy what are called saijiki, which are lists of words and terms that refer to specific seasons (in the traditional Japanese calendar, so there are actually a lot of "micro" seasons as well). some saijiki include a whole section of "seasonles" words - here's an article about non-season kigo in a saijiki.

so the claim that English-language haiku are invalid or not "real" haiku because they lack a kigo doesn't hold up, unless you invalidate a whole bunch of Japanese haiku as well. the op also claimed they would categorize a lot of English "haiku" as senryū which is...an opinion. Yes, haiku tend to be focused around nature (more on that below) and senryū tend to be more comedic or about human foibles but...that's it! it's a tendency! it's not a hard and fast rule!

Third problem: the claim that a haiku is as meditative practice revolving around the kigu kigo...yeah, no. the earlier form of haiku, the hokku, were the introductory poems of the longer poetic form, the renga and the hokku gradually became a standalone poetic form known as haiku. the hokku had a lot of purposes and we have a historical record of them going back ~1000 years to Emperor Juntoku where they were declamatory poems tied to events (births, deaths, etc.) or social events (moon-viewing parties) - not really meditative. haiku, if a genre can focus on a single idea, focus on an experience and that can be real or imaginary, direct and personal or neither.

Here's another Basho poem for your consideration:

夏草や 兵どもが 夢の跡 (natsukusa ya tsuwamonodomo ga yume no ato; summer grasses--/traces of dreams/of ancient warriors)

both the dreams and the grasses are those of Basho (contemporary) and of the warriors (ancient); it's about travel, it's about connecting the present to the ancient past, it's not really so much about the summer.

(Fourth, minor problem that I'm not really going to get into: you'd have to take this 'Buddhist ideas of enlightenment and beauty' up with haiku scholar Haruo Shirane but he explicitly says in the Routledge Global Haiku Reader (2024) that "pioneers of English-language haiku [such as D.T. Suzuki, Alan Watts, and the Beats] mistakenly emphasized Zen Buddhism in Japanese haiku".....so.)

4. "The presence of the kireji...it's a concept borderline absent from English because it's an intersection of linguistics and philosophy that doesn't really exist outside of the context of Japanese."

Let's begin with clarification. What is kireji (lit. a 'cutting word')? It's a class of terms in Japanese poetry that can do a few things, depending on the specific kireji and its place in the poem. In the middle of the poem, it can mark a thematic break, a cut in the stream of thought highlighting the parallel(s) between the preceding and following phrases. At the end of the poem, it provides a sense of ending and closure - it helps mark rhythmic division, to say the least, and it is seen as the 'pivot' word.

Two problems with claims above:

a. there are haiku that do not use kireji. For the hat trick, here's a Matsuo Basho haiku from 1689 AD that is kireji-free: 初しぐれ猿も小蓑をほしげ也 (hatsu shigure saru mo komino wo hoshige nari; the first cold shower/even the monkey seems to want/a little coat of straw) <- NB: I love this haiku so much

b. the idea of a kireji, as in a pivot word that provides an inflection point with rhythmic division and structure, exist not just in English poetry but in multiple different types of poetry across time and space! The caesura in Latin and Ancient Greek! The volta in sonnets! Whatever is happening in the third line of the Korean sijo!

final thoughts:

the op included language, which I won't quote here because it was messy and tied into other rbs, about Orientalism and appropriation in English-language haiku, which is definitely a real thing. but this blanket statement ignores that the relationship between haiku and "the West", much like Japan and "the West", was and is not a one-way street. Western writers were influenced by haiku and, in turn, those writers influenced Japanese writers who wrote haiku inspired by these influences - this process has been going on for well over a century. Furthermore, English and Japanese are not the only languages in which haiku are written! Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore was writing haiku in Bengali; other Indian poets were and are writing them in Gujrati and Malayalam, particularly by the poet Ashitha. the Pakistani poet Omer Tarin has written haiku about Hiroshima! The Spanish poet Lorca published haiku in, get this, Spanish, in 1921 and the Mexican poet José Juan Tablada published more in 1922! Italian translations of Yosano Akiko were published in 1919! any discussion of the idea that English/non-Japanese-language haiku aren't really haiku because they don't hold to the "rules" (which Japanese authors have been revising, adapting, critiquing, and/or straight up flouting for centuries) or because English/non-Japanese poetry is "a shallow river whereas a good haiku is a deeply-dug well" just shows a lack of knowledge around traditions and depths of...well, poetry itself.

my god this is so long.

in summary: this is a complex topic. If anyone would like some actual information about haiku, its history, common themes and forms, or a collection of good poets, the Routledge Global Haiku Reader (2024) and Haiku Before Haiku : From the Renga Masters to Basho (2011) are great references and really accessible in their language! hmu if you're interested and I can send you some pdfs.

[koreanbibliophilegirl]

What is your opinion about Han Kang winning the 2024 nobel prize in literature? Is she the best representative of Korean literature nowadays?

This took a while to answer, sorry nonnie. I wanted to try making this as informative and helpful as possible- plus I was(and still am) kinda busy with preparing for college entrance stuff😅.

So!!! To answer your question:

The Korean author 한강(Han Kang) mainly writes fiction about human life and resisting violence, or historical fiction dealing with Korean modern history; I'm gonna focus more on the historical fiction side here though.

Her historical novels focus on the mental & physical scars left on Korea during the tumultuous period right after the Japanese Colonial Period & the Korean War, through the eyes of ordinary people whose lives were destroyed by each event. So Han Kang winning the Nobel Prize is super meaningful to us, because it means the world is taking an interest in Korean history, and the pain we went through.

There's a well-known quote in Korea; it was said by the Japanese Colonial Period Independence Activist & leader of the Provisional Korean Government, 김구(Kim Gu).

"오직 한없이 가지고 싶은 것은 높은 문화의 힘이다. 문화의 힘은 우리 자신을 행복하게 하고, 나아가서 남에게 행복을 주기 때문이다."

("The only thing I wish we had limitlessly is high power of culture. For the power of culture brings joy to ourselves, and furthermore gives joy to others.")

This quote means cultural power is crucial in drawing in the world to our side. If other countries enjoy our culture, they'll also take an interest in understanding us, which will in turn lead to them taking an interest in our wellbeing & listening to our voice. In fact, it's happening right now! People are learning Korean for K-Pop and K-Dramas! People are getting interested in Korean culture!! Han Kang won the Nobel Prize for books about our history!!!

So, yeah. I think Han Kang's Nobel Prize is very important to Korea, because we're now one step closer to the world acknowledging the sufferings of our country that previously went unrecognized.

And yes, I think Han Kang's novels are a good representation not just of Korean literature, but of the spirit of Korea as well! A number of her works describe some horrific incidents in our history, and others present a calm sort of criticism on the violence of society. <채식주의자(The Vegetarian)>, one of her better-known works of fiction, is a neat slightly grotesque(?) example of this recurring theme of advocating for peace and resisting violence. (This one isn't about history BTW! It's about a woman resisting the lifestyle of her secular family.)

Both history and peace are especially important themes to Koreans. History, because we're always striving not to let it repeat & not to let unsolved disputes be forgotten. Peace, because we're in constant danger, from being the world's one and only divided country, among other things.

BUT, as many Koreans are pointing out, Han Kang is- though undisputedly very talented- one of many amazing writers in Korea. In fact, I've even heard people say up to 60~70% of Korean authors are likely capable of winning the Nobel Prize, if only their work would be translated properly. I- and a lot of others- think Han Kang's success on the international level is not only thanks to her own stellar talent, but also to her translator, Deborah Smith. Deborah Smith has been translating Han Kang's works for a while now, and her thoughtful translations have been much appreciated. NGL, I've seen so many Korean-to-English translations that suck so bad, so seeing Korean literature get translated by someone who very obviously cares a lot about the text? It was like a breath of fresh air after being stuck in the school auditorium for two hours. (And yes, I have just walked out of the school auditorium after being stuck there for two hours.)

This is a lil besides the point, but this is part of why I'm planning to start a Korean literature YouTube channel after I graduate. So many great works of Korean literature either have low-quality translations or don't have any at all, and I want to introduce those works to the wider world properly.

I still have a few months to go till graduation though, so in the meantime, I hope Han Kang's works, at least, get all the well-earned love and respect it deserves.

Thanks for the ask nonnie, and sorry again for the late answer! Feel free to ask if you have any additional questions- though I'm gonna be honest, I'll probably be late in answering those as well.😅 College entrance preparation is hard haha.

-Lilly xx

[samuelschoon]

"The Wire," an HBO series, dives into life in Baltimore, Maryland. It explores the drug trade, the police department, and the struggles of both criminals and law enforcers. The show highlights systemic issues like poverty, corruption, and institutional failures, which are topics we've discussed in our course. It helps us understand how social and historical forces impact cultural identities and how the media shapes our views on race and ethnicity. The show also highlights issues like racial profiling and police brutality. It portrays these problems as part of a larger pattern of institutional racism, not just isolated incidents. This creates important conversations about race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity, which we've been discussing in our course.

"The Wire" connects to our course materials that discuss race, power, and privilege. For example, Takaki explains how African Americans have been systematically oppressed through discriminatory laws and practices, creating lasting racial inequalities. The show brings these discussions to life by showing how these injustices continue today. In an article about The Wire and it’s depiction of policing in America,  I found an interesting statistic: “Recently, as reported by USA TODAY, the Invisible Institute in Chicago created the largest known collection of police misconduct records, which they have made open to the public. Out of those findings the highest number of investigations were for misconduct and abuse. 22,924 for excessive force, and another 2,307 for domestic violence.” Race-based brutality in America started as early as the first settlers, with the Indigenous People being heavily oppressed by the settlers. In the first episode of “The Wire”, D’Angelo is demoted to leading a crew in a low rise project called “The Pit” This is a confined slum that many people of color have been essentially cast out to due to decades of inequality and institutional failure. This reminded me of the Wounded Knee massacre, and how the Lakota Sioux had been confined to a specific area so the government could track their movements and suppress their culture. 

Our course also emphasizes understanding intersectionality—the way race, class, and gender intersect. "The Wire" shows this by highlighting the added challenges faced by black women in the drug trade and the criminal justice system. A reoccurring event in the show is court room hearings, with many black people being unfairly treated by the justice system. Throughout history people of color have been systematically dismantled by the justice system , with not much justice being served. This is often done by attacking even the simplest of things like the way some people choose to present themselves. I am often reminded of “Picturing Us” by Deborah Willis and its ideas about how important self-representation is, and how long people of color have struggled in America to have agency over their image, rather than fit in with what the white man would rather they conform to. This is encapsulated throughout history in photography, and ho few images there are of black people that were controlled and authored by black people. In “Picturing Us”, Deborah Willis includes a quote from Frederick Douglass originally included in his article ��A Tribute to the Negro”, which sums up this idea quite succinctly. “Negroes can never have impartial portraits at the hands of white artists. It seems to us next to impossible for white men to take likenesses of black men, without most grossly exaggerating their distinctive features. And the reason is obvious. Artist like all other white persons, have adopted a theory dissecting the distinctive features of Negro physiognomy.”

Citations:

Takaki, Ronald T., and Clint Smith. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Back Bay Books / Little, Brown, and Company, 2023. 

Willis, Deborah. Picturing US African American Identity in Photography Edited by Deborah Willis. New Pr, 1996. 

Armistead, Wilson. A Tribute for the Negro: Being a Vindication of the Moral, Intellectual and Religious Capabilities of the Coloured Portion of Mankind: With Particular Reference to the African Race: Illustrated by Numerous Biographical Sketches, Facts, Anecdotes, Etc. and Many Superior Portraits and Engravings. William Irwin ; Charles Gilpin, 1848. 

Adams, Kiersten. “Understanding Policing through HBO’s the Wire.” Medium, Medium, 10 July 2020, itskierstenadams.medium.com/understanding-policing-through-hbos-the-wire-778796ab23d9. 

Images:

https://wallup.net/the-wire-hbo-crime-drama-television-police-2/

https://oddstops.com/location.php?id=60

http://www.ifc.com/shows/the-spoils-before-dying/blog/2015/07/10-reasons-omar-from-the-wire-was-the-ultimate-badass

[wfcn-co]

12 Old Movies that are still a delight to watch

Despite the rapid evolution of the film industry, certain old movies continue to captivate audiences even today. These cinematic gems, often celebrated at the film festival, have transcended their era and remain a delight for movie lovers of all ages.

Casablanca (1942)

Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman's iconic performances in this romantic drama set against the backdrop of World War II make it a must-watch for movie lovers. Over seventy-five years after its release, we're still quoting lines from this timeless classic.

Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Audrey Hepburn's iconic portrayal of Holly Golightly in this romantic comedy-drama captures the essence of 1960s glamour and sophistication. Aside from catapulting Hepburn into the role of Hollywood fashion icon, her performance is one of her best.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Jimmy Stewart's heartfelt performance as George Bailey in this beloved holiday classic reminds us of the power of love, friendship, and our impact on others. It might be over seventy years old, but it is one of the best movies ever.

The Women (1939)

Starring Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, and Rosalind Russell, this fantastic female-led movie did wonders for women despite the era. The story centers around divorce, fashion, and unyielding gossip, making for a terrific girls' night viewing.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

This psychological horror starring Hollywood greats Bette Davis and Joan Crawford has achieved cult status over the years. You'll never see sibling rivalry quite like this as two competitive sisters are holed up together in a fancy mansion in old Hollywood. The authentic dislike between the two actresses is palpable.

An Affair to Remember (1957)

Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr's poignant romance in this classic tearjerker about star-crossed lovers who vow to meet at the Empire State Building captures the essence of old-fashioned romance. You'll struggle to feel anything but love between the two main characters, and it's quite beautiful.

The Godfather (1972)

You won't find a greater mob movie with a more talented cast of actors than The Godfather. The soundtrack is beyond powerful, and the performances of Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino are second to none.

Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

Judy Garland's performance as Esther Smith was considered her best-to-date, with her alternate lyrics turning a melancholy Christmas number into a positively upbeat one. This classic musical is a delight for the whole family.

These timeless films, celebrated at film festivals around the world, continue to inspire modern filmmakers and captivate audiences. Their enduring appeal is a testament to the power of great storytelling, unforgettable characters, and the timeless magic of cinema.

[infjtarot]

King of Cups. Weiser Waite Smith Tarot

The King of Cups is seated and is holding a cup close to his chest. He does not look into it, but gazes outward. It is not clear if he is offering you the cup or is keeping it for himself. The King of Cups is traditionally seen as the romantic figure—more committed and stable than the Knight; less wishy-washy than the Queen. But the King is also thoughtful and concerned about others, or a spiritual figure. When it comes to the matters of the heart, the King of Cups prefers to take an intellectual approach. He can dissect the various methods of love, its biological and its emotional components, and the historical and sociological pressures on a couple to marry. He would watch a romantic comedy and understand how it relates to myths such as Psyche and Eros, Tristan and Isolde, and he would have something to say on how these movies give their viewers unrealistic expectations for emotional connection. He will also have read a lot of Freud. None of this should impact the King of Cup’s ability to feel and to love, however. The understanding, if anything, adds depth to his emotions. The King does not reach this level of knowledge in order to scheme. He is not trying to game anyone or learn bogus seduction techniques. He simply wants to understand his own heart in order to survive its pangs and know what to do with it. At the time that Harry Harlow was studying psychology in the 1920s, there was a strange atmosphere in the scientific community. Male doctors were instructing new mothers not to touch their babies. Too much touch and too much comfort would make a baby soft and dependent as he or she grew older, they contended. Better to let the infant learn self-sufficiency, cry out his problems, and figure out what to do on her own. It would lead to strong, intelligent men and women. Harlow knew this was nonsense, and he decided to prove it. He would separate baby monkeys from their mothers and put them in cages to see how they reacted. He would create fake monkey mothers out of cloth and wire—the cloth ones provided no food, while those fashioned from wire did—and see which ones the babies preferred. Even when hungry, they would cling to the soft cloth mother. Babies without any touch at all simply didn’t thrive. Many became violent, anxious, and began to hurt themselves. Babies need touch and love, he determined—as much, if not more so, than they need food. Harlow’s studies revolutionized our understanding of love and the human need for it. Periodically we decide that the need for love must be weakness, and then someone—a King of Cups—goes about proving it’s essential for human life. Like all the Kings, the risk is overabstraction. That by studying love and emotions they run the risk of separating themselves from it. Or, understanding the darker side of love so well, they can’t let themselves trust ever again. Harlow himself was a terrible husband, or so said his first wife Clara Mears. Cold and distant, showing more concern and attention to his monkeys than to his own family. But in general, the King of Cups can recite Shakespeare’s sonnets, explain the science of attachment, quote studies on the evolutionary advantages of love, and yet refuse to give himself over to the actual experience of it. But the King of Cups has a tremendous capacity for love and emotional connection, if he is willing to accept that the strangest aspects of love cannot be dissected logically. Love is as mysterious as the soul, and people have been trying to figure out that thing for centuries without much luck. The brain will take you only so far into love; the rest of the way has to be lit with uncertainty. RECOMMENDED MATERIALS The Seven Storey Mountain, book by Thomas Merton Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding, book by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection, book by Deborah Blum Jessa Crispin

[loveinquotesposts]

https://loveinquotes.com/the-best-sex-takes-us-somewhere-somewhere-warm-and-expansive-a-paradise-of-lust-and-happiness-sex-is-and-can-be-and-should-be-but-only-very-rarely-is-an-act-of-communion-with-something-bigger-than/

The best sex takes us somewhere. Somewhere warm and expansive, a paradise of lust and happiness. Sex is and can be and should be but only very rarely is an act of communion with something bigger than ourselves. Men fuck and women make love, people say, but we men make love when we fuck a woman we adore: it’s the same thing to us. We mean it sincerely. I had places inside me only Cathy could fill with her body, and I made her happy with my body more than I ever thought I could. ― Deborah Smith, The Crossroads Cafe

#DeborahSmith, #DeborahSmithDeborahSmithLoveQuotes, #DeborahSmithQuotes, #DeborahSmithLoveQuotes, #TheCrossroadsCafe, #TheCrossroadsCafeQuotes

[words-and-coffee]

In the past, people were vaguely fearful of photographs, believing the camera's exact reproduction of their own image would steal their souls. Not only did these images survive for much longer than their subjects, they were also endowed with an aura of magic the subjects lacked. A superstition, but one whose traces can still be felt today. People sense that the photograph captures an uncanny moment in the interstices of reality, enhancing reality's eeriness, the root of which is unknown, and fixing that moment in place like a death mask. Photography differs from the art of painting in that capturing or exposing such a moment happens neither at the will of the photographer nor the one who is photographed. What is photographed is a ghost moment, clothed in matter. Photography is the dream of comprehensive meaning. Each object has parts of itself that are invisible. This territory, which neither the photographer nor the subject can govern, constitutes the secret kept by the object. Unrelated to the intention of either photographer or subject, within the magic of photography dwells a still, quiet shock. Try to imagine our house one day when we ourselves are no more. Somewhere in that house is the ghost of us, which will pass alone in front of a blind mirror, revealing our own blurred image.

Bae Suah, Untold Night and Day (translated by Deborah Smith)

[sharry-arry-odd]

Or perhaps it was simply that things were happening inside her, terrible things, which no one else could even guess at, and thus it was impossible for her to engage with everyday life at the same time.

The Vegetarian, by Han Kang

[metamorphesque]

―  favorite words of … han kang

the vegetarian, human acts, the white book

˗ˏˋin case you’d like to buy me a☕ˎˊ˗    

[liriostigre]

Han Kang, Human Acts (translated by Deborah Smith)

[gennsoup]

Time was a wave, almost cruel in its relentlessness as it whisked her life downstream, a life which she had to constantly strain to keep from breaking apart.

Han Kang, The Vegetarian

Author: Han Kang (Korean)

Title: The Vegetarian

First Published: 2000

Original Language: Korean

Translator: Deborah Smith

View on Wordpress

[merulae]

There are certain memories which remain inviolate to the ravages of time. And to those of suffering. It is not true that everything is coloured by time and suffering. It is not true that they bring everything to ruin.

Han Kang, The White Book

[ahb-writes]

Literary style is not simply a mark of identity, like a fingerprint — it also has a function and a significance. Function is the easy part: the cool, understated prose of The Vegetarian functions to offset the feverish violence, to prevent it from seeming sensationalistic and over-the-top, a reminder that the darkest horrors are found in the everyday. Significance is trickier, because it depends on context: What styles are used by this author’s contemporaries? What’s the mainstream? What tends to garner praise, get labeled “modern,” “original,” “experimental,” or even just “literary”? Translating from Korean into English involves moving from a language more accommodating of ambiguity, repetition, and plain prose, to one that favors precision, concision, and lyricism.

Deborah Smith ("What We Talk About When We Talk About Translation")

[thelibraryiscool]

My Top 9 Books of 2021 (or some variation thereof)

I thought, instead of summaries, I’d give you the very beginnings, and maybe suggest why you’d try one or another of these. Some running themes based on the covers alone are clearly body parts and the color blue. Some actual running themes (on very quick reflection) might be personal/political trauma, memory, the search for/the impossibility of understanding or finding/making meaning.

1. Human Acts by Han Kang (trans. by Deborah Smith)

“Looks like rain,” you mutter to yourself.     What’ll we do if it really chucks it down? You open your eyes so that only a slender chink of light seeps in, and peer at the gingko trees in front of the Provincial Office.

you should read it if you like:

really striking, powerful prose

explorations of grief

seeing the traces people leave on each other

2. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

History has failed us, but no matter.     At the end of the century, an aging fisherman and his wife decided to take in lodgers for extra money. Both were born in the village of Yeongdo -- a five-mile-wide islet beside the port city of Busan.

you should read it if you like:

multi-generational narratives

morally complex characters

meticulous historical novels

3. Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky

Our country is the stage.        When soldiers march into town, public assemblies are officially prohibited. But today, neighbors flock to the piano music from Sonya and Alfonso’s puppet show in Central Square.

you should read it if you like:

contemporary poetry

allegory and parables

seeing the day-to-day in the midst of horror

4. The Book of Salt by Monique Truong

Of that day I have two photographs, and, of course, my memories.       We had arrived at the Gare du Nord with over three hours to spare. There were, after all, a tremendous number of traveling cases and trunks.

you should read it if you like:

modernism

a narrator with a dry sense of humor

food, its preparation, its consumption, its significance

5. Zong! by M. Nourbese Philip

[due to the format, it’s not really possible to quote like this -- the position of words on the page is vital]

you should read it if you like:

attempts at the restoration of memory

poetry that takes full advantage of the space of the page

linguistic experiments

6. Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen

New Orleans is at war. The long howl in the sky; what else can it mean?     Hương drops the dishes into the sink and grabs the baby before he starts crying. 

you should read it if you like:

stories about family

strong recurring motifs

multiple point-of-view characters with vivid, compelling voices

7. Dark Soliloquy by Gertrud Kolmar (trans. by Henry A. Smith, available to borrow on archive.org)

You hold me now completely in your hands.

My heart beats like a frightened little bird’s Against your palm. Take heed! You do not think A person lives within the page you thumb.

you should read it if you like:

disturbing, powerful, creative imagery

identifications with nature

modernist poetry

8. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

The night I arrived at Oxford, I learned that my dorm room was built in 1361 and had originally been used to quarantine victims of the plague. The college porter seemed genuinely apologetic as he led me up the five flights of stairs to my tower. He was a nervous man -- short and mouthy, with teeth like a nurse shark --  who admitted through a brittle accent that Old College was over-enrolled this year, and that the deans had been forced to find space for students wherever they could.

you should read it if you like:

books about books and reading

gothic fiction and/or the brontës

books that are unapologetically ridiculous and sentimental

9. The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque (trans. A. W. Wheen)

What is still left of Number 2 Platoon is quartered in a stretch of battered trench behind the line, and most of them are dozing.      “Funny sort of shell--” says Jupp suddenly.      “What d’you mean?” asks Ferdinand Kosole, sitting up.

you should read it if you like:

ww1 fiction

stories about friendship

spare prose that hits right where it hurts

[side note: chronologically this falls between All Quiet on the Western Front and Three Comrades, and I would definitely suggest reading the former first]