“Inspiration is a state of collection, not creative dynamism. One must allow one’s vision of the concept to settle and clear. I do not think any great artist works in a fever. Even the mystics get to work only after the ineffable dove of the Holy Spirit has already left their cells and is losing itself in the clouds. One returns from inspiration as from a foreign country. The poem is the narration of the voyage.”
---From Deep Song and other prose by Federico Garcia Lorca, 1932, translated from the Spanish by Christoher Maurer, 1980 (emphasis mine)
I've continued on my sometimes purposeful, sometimes serendipitous trip through literature written in languages other than English (and again super kudos to the translators).
Purposeful: the Lorca book above and a classic New Directions reprint that arrived in the mail today, A Season in Hell, by Arthur Rimbaud, 1873, translated from the French by Louise Varese, 1945
Serendipitous: these four fell into my hands:
Good and Evil, by Samanta Schweblin, 2025
English translation from Spanish by Megan McDowell, 2025
The Old Fire, by Elisa Shua Dusapin, 2023
English translation from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins, 2026
The End of the Sahara, by Said Khatibi, 2022
English translation from Arabic by Alexander E. Elinson, 2026
Waste Tide, by Chen Qiufan, 2013
Translated from Chinese by Ken Liu, 2019
Plus these bangers:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, 2002
The Intentions of Thunder, by Patricia Smith, 2025 poems
It’s been lit the past couple of weeks reading wise.
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