{"id":303986,"date":"2016-04-06T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-06T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wdev.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent-dev\/2016\/04\/06\/rilke-shake-by-angelica-freitas-why-this-book-should-win\/"},"modified":"2018-04-16T14:39:17","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T14:39:17","slug":"rilke-shake-by-angelica-freitas-why-this-book-should-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/2016\/04\/06\/rilke-shake-by-angelica-freitas-why-this-book-should-win\/","title":{"rendered":""Rilke Shake" by Ang\u00e9lica Freitas [Why This Book Should Win]"},"content":{"rendered":"

This entry in the Why This Book Should Win<\/a> series, is by Tess Lewis, BTBA<\/span> judge, writer, translator from the French and German, and an advisory editor of the Hudson Review.<\/em><\/a> We will be running two (or more!) of these posts every business day leading up to the announcement of the finalists.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n

Rilke Shake<\/em><\/a> by Ang\u00e9lica Freitas, translated from the Portuguese by Hilary Kaplan (Brazil, Phoneme Media)<\/b><\/p>\n

\n

ma\u2019am, do you have a mallarm\u00e9 in your house?
\ndo you know how many pessoas die every year
\nin accidents with mallarm\u00e9?
\n               statute of mallarmamento<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

In Rilke Shake<\/em>, the Brazilian poet, Ang\u00e9lica Freitas, whips up a powerful tonic for even the most stubborn case of anxiety of influence: one cup Rilke, a pinch Gertrude Stein (farting in the tub), two tablespoons Poundian cadences, a dash of Marianne Moore, and toasted Blake, with five hundred hollygolightlies thrown in for good measure, the whole lot shaken not stirred. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Freitas\u2019 antic irreverence and exuberant poetic license are contagious but don\u2019t come at the expense of depth. Even as she “smooth[es] the rough edges of farce,” life\u2019s sharper blades intrude in her poems as heartbreak, poverty, loneliness, depression. In family sells it all<\/em>, a litany of loss, sacrifice, and shady survival strategies ends as expected. “family sells it all \/ for next to nothing \/ . . . you know how it goes.” Even the luxury of perfect teeth are no match for market forces: “perfect teeth, listen up: \/ you\u2019re not going to get anywhere.” Gathering rosebuds or reading great literature is fine as far as it goes, but an empty stomach will have its way. <\/p>\n

\n

ah, yes, shakespeare is very nice, but beets, chicory, and watercress?
\nand rice and beans, and collard greens?
\n. . .
\nlife\u2019s tough, perfect teeth.
\nbut eat, eat all you can,
\nand forget this chat,
\nand dig in.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Tragedy and heartbreak can strike at any time, even lunchtime, say, as in boa constrictor.<\/p>\n

\n

the creak crack
\n     of bones breaking
\n     a single tear escaping
\n     it was like love
\nthe lack of air
\n     blood rising to the head<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

where history begins.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Translator Hilary Kaplan won a PEN<\/span>\/Heim Translation Fund Grant to translate these poems. She has done the grant and Freitas\u2019 poems justice, capturing the many shifts in tone in and between the lines, from playful to wry to sardonic to pathetic, even sentimental, to deadpan and back to playful, sometimes within a single poem. For all of Freitas\u2019 lyric clowning, it\u2019s clear she takes poetry too seriously not to dismantle it and use it to her own purposes.<\/p>\n

\n

you need
\nto live in the ellipses
\nneed to dissect
\nthe frog of poetry\u2014
\ndon\u2019t abolish the pond.
\nleaper, leap in
\nto the great leap. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Yes, reader, leap in with both feet, leap in often. But don\u2019t take just my advice, listen to the statute of dismallarmament<\/i>\u2014\u201cbe a patriot, surrender your mallarm\u00e9. ol\u00e9\u201d\u2014and order a Rilke Shake<\/em> today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This entry in the Why This Book Should Win series, is by Tess Lewis, BTBA judge, writer, translator from the French and German, and an advisory editor of the Hudson Review. We will be running two (or more!) of these posts every business day leading up to the announcement of the finalists. Rilke Shake by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67476],"tags":[63606,18416,35996,61536,49386,63616,56166,1646,63596],"class_list":["post-303986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-translated-book-awards","tag-angelica-freitas","tag-best-translated-book-award","tag-btba","tag-btba-2016","tag-btba-poetry","tag-hilary-kaplan","tag-phoneme-media","tag-review","tag-rilke-shake"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303986"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316026,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303986\/revisions\/316026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/College\/translation\/threepercent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}