Poetry in Translation

                                                 

Janos Pilinszky

  If you didn't catch this Radio 4 programme presented by Daljit Nagra last Thursday, it's well worth a listen:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sdnqh

   In particular, enthralling stuff about Ted Hughes' and Daniel Weissbort's founding of Modern Poetry in Translation explained by David Constantine - he calls Weissbort's achievement as a longstanding editor "colossal" but so indeed has his been.
   There's a marvellous bit of Hughes reading a translation he's made of a Janos Pilinszky poem and then talking about the Hungarian poet - how "he can only write what he cannot not write...he has made his moves, as he describes it, like a chess-player, only when he must and only when forced...'I would like to write', he has said, 'as if I had remained silent.'
   For a further perspective on Hughes' versions of Pilinszky, here's a brief essay by Tara Bergin, who's working on a PhD on TH as translator:

http://www.thetedhughessociety.org/janospilinsky.htm