Diplomsko delo Problems in Translating African American Poetry after 1950 Kristina Kočan

African American Poetry after 1950 musical aspect linguistic aspect cultural aspect

Linguistic Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 The use of grammatical errors For Walter Washington Za Walterja Washingtona We blk blues singers we blken the chords with shots of blue … we blk blues singers we are you pleadin I gave you all my love please don’t abuse it we are you cryin I tried my best but it wasn’t worth it we are you wishin the rain smell would drive away the sweary mad dreams of last night we are you watchin … (Tom Dent) Mi črni pevci bluesa črnimo akorde s šusi žalosti... mi črni pevci bluesa mi smo tvoja prošnja dal sem ti vso svojo ljubezen prosim ne izdaj je mi smo tvoj jok potrudil sem se po najboljših močeh a ni bilo vredno mi smo tvoja želja vonj po dežju bo pregnal zaklete nore sanje včerajšnje noči mi smo tvoja budnost... (Tom Dent)

Linguistic Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Unusual typography L L O n ) G Ong) ON G L oNg E e place that PLACE TH' One g'd L place L uN OnE Un ouNOUN______ g / _____________ / _______ / 1 _________/ moving poem by Russell Atkins

Unusual typography “Most of all we have to read the absence that cannot be heard, the absence of a closing period, the missing punctuation that poetically carries out the prophecy written in the poem” (Nielsen).

The problems with translating the terminology for African Americans “Since the 1800s blacks in America have moved through myriad names and identifiers such as colored, mixed, black, mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, nigger, Negro, people of color, Afro-American and African-American, including a host of pejorative slurs. These changes in identity have happened within a person’s lifetime” (Robinson).

The problems with translating the terminology for African Americans A Dance for Militant DilettantesPles za bojevite diletante Dont nobody want no nice nigger no more these honkies man that put out these books & things they want an angry splib a furious nigrah they don't want no bourgeois woogie they want them a militant nigger in a fiji haircut... ( Al Young ) Naj nihče več ne želi nobenega prijaznega črnuha tile belčki ki izdajajo te knjige & stvari hočejo jeznega črnuha srditega črnuharja nočejo nobenega meščanskega črnčka hočejo borbenega črnuha s fiji frizuro... ( Al Young )

The problems with translating the terminology for African Americans … Afrikan People all over the world, the future is ours We will create on our feet not our knees It is a future of Great works, and Freedom But we can not crawl through life drunk & unconscious we cannot dance through life or read the NYTimes through life, or wear vests all our life give our lives to parties, & work with no reason but life in a prison of white domination Be conscious. Black People Negroes Colored People AfroAmericans Be CONSCIOUS … All over the world Afrikans Sweat Beautiful Afrikans New ark Afrikans (Niggers too) Harlem Afrikans (or Spooks) Ghana Afrikans (bloods) San Francisco Afrikans (brothers) Afrikan Afrikans (ndugu) West Indian Afrikans (Hey man) South American Afrikans (Hermano!) Francophone Afrikans (Monsieur) Anglophone Afrikans (Mister Man) Anywhere Afrikans Afrikans Afrikans Afrikans People... (Afrikan Revolution by Amiri Baraka)

Musical Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Jazz elements “In part, the act of visualizing jazz accounts for the range of poets engaged in the music’s elusive accessibility: young black writers steeped in the tradition of black music, using poetry in part to achieve a political voice; … women lamenting over the men who have done them wrong, poets trying to break apart the language to imitate sound; friends of jazz musicians eager to keep their spirit alive on the page, …” (Feinstein & Komunyakaa).

Musical Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Jazz elements Brother JohnBrat John... Bird, buttermilk, bird – smack, booze and bitches I am Bird baddest nightdreamer on sax in the ornithology-world I can fly – higher, high, higher – I'm a black man; I am, I'm a black man –... (Michael S. Harper)... Bird, pinjenec, ptič – tlesk, pijača in psice jaz sem Bird najhujši nočni sanjač na saksu v ornitološkem svetu lahko letim – višje, visoko, višje – jaz sem črn moški; jaz sem, sem črn moški –... (Michael S. Harper)

Musical Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Blues elements All night my bed was rocky, all night nobody by my side; My bed was cold and rocky, all night no good man by my side. The radiator sputtered, the furnace gave a groan and died.... ( Naomi Long Madgett ) Moja postelja vso noč bila je majava, vso noč sama sem ležala; Moja postelja bila je mrzla in majava, vso noč brez dobrega moškega ležala. V radiatorju je pokalo, peč je zastokala in zaspala.... ( Naomi Long Madgett ) Monday morning Blues Blues ponedeljkovega jutra

Musical Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Blues elements Blues... like when he took me to his home away from home place and i died the long sought after death he'd planned for me. Yeah, bessie he put in the bacon and it overflowed the pot. and two days later when i was talking i started to grin. as everyone knows i am still grinning. (Sonia Sanchez)... kot takrat ko me je peljal k sebi domov stran od domačega kraja in sem umrla dolgo iskano smrt ki jo je načrtoval zame. Ja, bessie, dal je not klobasico in je zavrelo preko lonca. in dva dni kasneje ko sem govorila sem se začela režati. kot vsi vedo se še vedno režim. (Sonia Sanchez)

Cultural Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 “Literary translation is the most important form of intercultural mediation of fiction, ever since the term literature exists in the present meaning of the word” (Grosman, my translation).

Cultural Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Style and Fashion Beautiful Black MenČudoviti črni moški i wanta say just gotta say something bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight black men with they afros... dashiki suits with shirts that match... ( Nikki Giovanni ) želela sem reči samo moram nekaj reči o tistih čudovitih čudovitih čudovitih črnih moških z njihovimi afro frizurami... dashiki oblekah s srajcami ki se ujemajo... ( Nikki Giovanni )

Cultural Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Food items Knoxville, Tennessee I always like summer best you can eat fresh corn from daddy's garden and okra and greens and cabbage and lots of barbeque and buttermilk and homemade ice-cream at the church picnic... ( Nikki Giovanni ) Vedno imam poletja najraje lahko ješ svežo koruzo z očkovega vrta in okro in listje špinače in zelje in ogromno z žara in pinjenec in domači sladoled na cerkvenem pikniku... ( Nikki Giovanni )

Cultural Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Food items Magnolia StreetMagnolijina ulica … music for siesta and dreaming and funerals & sun-happiness Saturday nights & your clumsy heavy winding stairsteps & the circular room that looked like a lighthouse & gumbo... (Tom Dent) … glasba za siesto in sanjarjenje in pogrebe & sončno-srečne sobotne noči & vaše nerodne naporne vijugaste stopnice & okrogla soba ki je izgledala kakor svetilnik & gumbo... (Tom Dent) “Surprisingly, there are times when the best way of dealing with seemingly opaque items in the source culture is not to translate them at all” (Landers 79).

Cultural Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 Gospel Dear John, Dear ColtraneDragi John, dragi Coltrane Why you so black? cause I am why you so funky? cause I am why you so black? cause I am why you so sweet? cause I am why you so black? cause I am... (Michael S. Harper) Zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako funky? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako sladek? zato ker sem zakaj ti tako črn? zato ker sem... (Michael S. Harper)

Cultural Aspects of African American Poetry after 1950 “On the micro level translators can use all the linguistic and hermeneutic techniques they have learned, but the finality of their endeavor is the text a part of the culture, not the much vaunted struggle with the word the sentence, the line. For this reason potential translators need to learn about the conditions or constraints – ideological, poetological, sociocultural, linguistic – under which texts come into being...” (Lefevere).