Life in the Times of Coronavirus: Lockdown Day 28

Nearly every memory I have of church involves attending Mass with my mother. While my father and siblings slept in on Sunday mornings—he still rose at dawn to work at the mechanic shop downtown; my younger brother and sister still shared a bed—my mother would wake me up bright and early to go to St. Elizabeth’s. I was ten or perhaps eleven, and while most kids that age would have complained about having to wake up at 7:00 to go to church, I actually looked forward to going. Like most other Latino kids my age, religion was important in my household: God wasn’t an abstract concept to us; God was instead a very real presence capable of unimaginable blessings or of completely upending our lives.

Et CeteraCarlos CabreraApril 10, 2020coronavirus, covid-19, faith, religion, catholicism, literature, oscar wildeComment

Life in the Times of Coronavirus: Lockdown Day 21

Three weeks in, and we’re pretty much used to being indoors. It’s been raining pretty much all week (this afternoon the sun has decided to make a brief appearance), so I haven’t been exactly dying to get outside either. But there are times like this morning when, facing a stressful situation at work, I would have picked up my laptop and headed to one of the local terraces in my neighborhood. I would have ordered a beer, followed by lunch, and listen to the birds chirping and the soft buzz of traffic as I worked.

So, instead, I had to muster up the strength for the millionth time since the lockdown came into effect and find a way to calm down and destress from a situation that would seem banal any other day. I wrapped up my work and opened several books to search for poems that would bring me comfort and transport me to another place, even if only temporarily.

Et CeteraCarlos CabreraApril 3, 2020hope, coronavirus, covid-19, poetry, literatureComment

"A Greater Fidelity":. How Closely Should A Literary Translation Stick to the Source?

How closely should a literary translation stick to the source text? This is a complicated question to answer. A close look at the case of Korean author Han Kang and her translator Deborah Smith.

Recommended Literary Translations - 2018

With thousands of literary translations being published into English every year, it's hard to know where to begin your exploration of this rich field. Thankfully, the folks over at The Globe and Mail published a list of recommended books based on the Man Booker International short list.

Literary TranslationCarlos CabreraMay 21, 2018translation, literary translation, literatureComment