Maureen Freely, who has translated Orhan Pamuk’s books from Turkish, writes about what drew her to her craft and why she feels the work is important. (She also gives examples of how challenging rendering Turkish sentences into English can be.)
Tag: 11.28.10
Is China Poised to Become an Opera Powerhouse?
Visiting Western opera stars receive tumultuous ovations; the National Center for the Performing Arts (“The Egg”) in Beijing presents operas year-round and mounts a major annual festival; some successful Chinese singers abroad are returning home to train a new generation.
Derek Jacobi Is Finally Ready to Play King Lear
“If you’ve got ambitions to do the classics, you jump the Hamlet hoop. And then when you’re old you do the Lear hoop. I’ve always felt slightly young for it. But I’ve waited and now I’m only about eight years off the textual age that he is. I’ve always wanted to have a go at it, but I’ve wanted to be in the right frame of mind.”
In Defense of Contradictions-in-Terms
“Now, the principle of noncontradiction says that you can never accept a contradiction. And the principle of noncontradiction has been high orthodoxy in Western philosophy since Aristotle mounted a spirited defense of it in his Metaphysics … But why should we accept that anyway? You might think that since Aristotle’s defense established the principle in Western philosophy, his arguments must have been pretty good. Were they? No.”
Sociology Professors Consider the Public Toilet
The issue is important “because it determines who can go out in the city [i.e., those with strong bladders] and who cannot, who can use public space and who cannot. … It’s also a laboratory for what we are willing to do to prevent some people from doing things we don’t like, and how much punishment will we give to everybody in order to ensure that.”
Margaret Atwood: ‘I Don’t Like Being an Icon’
“It invites iconoclasm. Canada is a balloon-puncturing country. You are not really allowed to be an icon unless you also make an idiot of yourself.”
Vargas Llosa Gave In to Franco’s Censors
“A [Spanish] newspaper has uncovered evidence that Nobel Prize-winning author Mario Vargas Llosa acquiesced to censors during Franco’s regime in Spain to get his books published.”
Film Industry Expected to Make Up Lost Funding for British Film Commissioner
“The costs of the Office of the British Film Commissioner, whose job is to secure foreign investment in British films such as the Harry Potter series, are expected to be levied on an unsettled British film industry. Film executives are so worried about a fall in foreign investment – worth £1bn annually – that they are expected to endorse a ‘public-private’ partnership to save the office.”
Can Bullying Cause Brain Damage?
“A new wave of research … [suggests that] bullying can leave an indelible imprint on a teen’s brain at a time when it is still growing and developing. Being ostracized by one’s peers, it seems, can throw adolescent hormones even further out of whack, lead to reduced connectivity in the brain, and even sabotage the growth of new neurons.”
Video Games Move From Buttons to Motion Sensors – And From Pastime to Art
“[As] the barrier of buttons give way, … video games are poised to become more engaging – physically, emotionally and perhaps even intellectually – than they have ever been. But they will do so not by dehumanizing players but rather by bridging the gap between media and actual personal experience.”