Cavanagh’s essay on “The Art of Losing: Polish Poetry and Translation” was a wonderful read. I was moved by her care for her work and her conviction that perfection isn’t a reasonable expectation for translation, nor in life. I loved how she contextualized modern Polish poetry as “creation from loss” (238) and the attempt, as a result, to infuse Mandelstam’s “teleological warmth.” I went down quite the rabbit hole trying to chase the exact meaning of this phrase. I thought ending her essay with the metaphor of her son’s game was a particularly lovely choice. In the Culture article, I was struck by the metaphors used for translating Symborska (e.g., Kamiński’s “polishing diamonds,” and “it all went down the drain”). I loved running across Cavanagh again in this piece and her enthusiasm for Szymborska. I was interested in Cavanagh’s praise of Szymborska’s “greatness on the one hand, and modesty on the other.” This brought me to the Godayol piece and the critiques of gender metaphors in translation. I wonder a bit about Szymborska’s appeal needing to be tied in with her modesty—I found myself very attracted to this description of her as well, but maybe modesty is a necessary prerequisite to be an appealing female writer. I also wanted to quickly touch on my interest in the discussion of the borderland metaphors. I particularly enjoyed Maier’s interpretation of the Buddhist ‘between’ state of translation (107).
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