"When is one book written by more than one person? When are two books both the same and different? Is translation a mind-bending paradox, a run-of-the-mill banality, or a joke that misses the mark? Perhaps all three–simultaneously."
By translator Deborah Smith, in her Translator's Note.
By translator Deborah Smith, in her Translator's Note.
"Though it would not be a mistake to call his father authoritarian, his authority had no ego. An autocrat, yet one who could not rule over anything, and whose autocracy had no ego to it. He lived then died like a yellow ghost."
"August beds were pillars of hot-water vapour belched up from a bog, which held the memory of a female ancestor. An empire of agonising visions drifted up from its bubbling surface and floated over the city. These visions encroached on the dreams of its inhabitants."
"It was the time of the year when sleep was stretched thinnest, like oxygen at a high altitude. Yet it was also a time governed by a colloid of dreams in which gravity and density were most intense. In dreams Ayami would clutch a huge parrot to her breast, and in reality she would crawl into a non-existent bathtub brimming with cold water and fall asleep. The parrot dug its claws into her chest and produced a drawn-out shriek."
"The smell of overripe fruit, cigarettes, damp laundry and fish wrappings wafted from beneath her skirt."
"The door swung back so suddenly it severed them from their shadows, which were left behind like dark ghosts."
#bookhaul I received these this week and I'm very excited! The top four are from my local indie and are all translated works. I'm particularly looking forward to the tagged book because I've read another of Bae Suah's books and absolutely loved it! The bottom book is the Lambda Fellows Anthology just in time for #pride
#womenintranslation #literaryjournal #translatedfiction
#queer #lgbt
Untold Night and Day | 
