Is something always lost in translation?
Yes, something may be lost in translation ... However, after having translated many, many poems and poets (from the English, Spanish, Nahuatl-Aztec) my experience is that I could find equivalents in Dutch for words and sentences which seemed to be impenetrable at first sight. The translator should be patient and persevering: endurance is the solution to difficult problems which may have left the translator in despair for quite some time. Of course one does not succeed all the time, but frequently enough you do, so never give up. Translation enriches your own language, and extends it as well. Understanding people from other countries and other cultures is the bonus and joy you get as a translator.
Does the physical landscape you find yourself in influence your creative writing?
Yes, the physical landscape has influenced my writing, and it still does.
Is it a poet's responsibility to write engaged literature?
As to engaged literature: that depends wholly on where you live. In Holland with its futile problems (compared with the rest of the world) it would be a weak proposition to write so-called engaged texts. And if ... then use a language as sharp and cutting as Bertolt Brecht in Germany did! Humanism, yes, all the time – a humanism which is not soft, however, but what we used to call a “humanism with hair on its teeth”! Tough, direct, strict, with great and utmost concern about the words (the language) one uses. “Erst kommt das Fressen und dann die Moral!” Poets speak for few people; there is almost no audience, at least not in Western countries. The common journalist has far more readers than any poet has. So, turn to journalism whenever a serious socio-political problem occurs. Avoid weak poetry that doesn’t work at all!
Will you please share one of your poems, or a part of it, with our readers?
CANTUS FIRMUS (6)
Had zij haar naam in hout gekerfd? Stond
ergens nog die maaltijd klaar
die wij in alle vroegte bij een opgestookt fornuis
zouden gebruiken?
Was de wereld toen aanwezig? Werd er
flink gemoord, gevochten en verkracht?
En moest ik dat berichten of bezingen
in een ongelezen eenmanskrant,
verfrommeld tussen vroege bosnarcissen
en nog ingehouden bloesempracht?
Passanten attendeerden mij op plicht
en verantwoordelijkheid; ze wezen
met berookte vingers naar het oosten, naar het zuiden.
Ze bezaten een kompas, ze zeiden iets
over een straf bewind. Een krachtig standpunt. Wapens.
Doden voor de goede zaak.
Het regende, er was slecht zicht. Zij fietsten
met geheven hoofden verder.
Ik luisterde niet vaak.
Alleen wormen, kevers en narcissen stonden aan mijn kant.
De padden sliepen nog aandachtig,
diep verscholen in een opgewaaide bladerrand.
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Born in Holland Christmas 1938, Hans C ten Berge has spent long periods in Eastern Europe as well as in North and Central America (Greenland, Canada, Texas, Mexico). He was founder and sole editor of the literary quarterly Raster (Grid) from 1967-1973. The Secret of a Cheerful Mood brought him the Multatuli-Prize. In 1996 he was awarded the prestigious Huygens-Prize for his entire oeuvre. In 2006 he received the PC Hooft-Prize, the highest award for literature in The Low Countries. |
The dancing in other words / dansende digtersfees is an annual international poetry event, curated by Breyten Breytenbach and Dominique Botha, and composer Neo Muyanga. The 2016 festival will take place on Saturday 7 May. Click here for more information.
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Al singende en dansende na die Spier Digtersfees 2016
“Die fees sal weer eens ’n bevoorregte ruimte bied vir die vervlegting van stemme waar ons sal droom asof ons vir ewig gaan lewe.” – Breyten Breytenbach |
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