BOOK CURRENTS: The Turkish Soundscape
Archipelago’s Scott Beauchamp recently returned from Turkey and, continuing in the vein of his last post, offers insight into the Turkish literary landscape: You’re going to have to forgive me if I wax poetic about my recent trip to Istanbul. In
Angela Woodward reviews Archipelago's translations of Magdalena Tulli in the LA Review of Books
Read the full essay here. Tulli gives her reader the exhilaration of a child peering into a doll’s house or studying a finely wrought illustration from an old storybook. Her wealth of detail pleases unceasingly. Yet with the creation of beauty
Celebrating Erasure III: The Jefferson Bible
Continuing in our series Celebrating Erasure, this week we focus on one of the most curious examples of erasure: the Jefferson Bible. Thomas Jefferson set out to extract every supernatural element of the New Testament. Starting with a beautiful leather-bound
Goodbye, Florence!
Today is a bittersweet day for the Archipelago office. It's the final day for our very dear Florence Lui! She's off to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology at CUNY -- so we expect to see her at various literary
Happy Birthday, Albert Cohen!
Albert Cohen with his wife, translator Bella Cohen, 1979 (courtesy of Marc Riboud) Tomorrow, August 16, marks the 118th birthday of French author Albert Cohen (1895-1981). Perhaps known best for his novel, Belle de Seigneur, which was awarded the French Academy's Grand Prix du Roman, Albert Cohen
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL, Vol. 2: Literary Istanbul
(Sun setting over the Bosphorus. Silhouettes of Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Süleymaniye Mosque. Image courtesy of Seha Islam through Wikimedia Commons.) In another installment of our international travel posts, Archipelago's Bronwen Durocher celebrates novelist Ahmed Hamdi Tanpinar's A Mind at Peace by taking us
Celebrating Erasure II: Tom Phillips
Following up from last week's post about erasure, this week celebrates the work of Tom Phillips's A Humument. In 1966, artist Tom Phillips walked into a used book store and bought a copy of W. H. Mallock's A Human Document for a dime.
LITERARY HISTORY I: Louis Couperus Receives Literary Prize
How about a little literary history to start this week off? On this date in 1890, Louis Couperus, author of Eline Vere, received the prestigious D.A. Thiemeprijs (D.A. Thieme Prize, named after publisher D.A.Thieme), securing Couperus as a major Dutch novelist. Couperus became
Susan Bernofsky's Translationista
In lieu of a GUEST POST this month, I'd like to point you over to our friend Susan Bernofsky's Translationista blog, a wonderful resource and insight into the mind of a versatile, working translator. Of particular interest to me is her post
Generosity: David Ferry on Good Translations
In his commentary to Dialogos: Paired Poems in Translation by George Kalogeris, David Ferry offers some keen words of translation wisdom: The human quality that a good translation gives evidence of is generosity: the generosity of imagination that can hear and