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Unread 10-08-2013, 02:49 PM
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Catherine Chandler Catherine Chandler is offline
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I must congratulate the person who took on this gorgeous sonnet by Borges. As Roger points out, the beautiful Wilbur translation sets the bar very high indeed.

However, I have the same reservations as Adam and Roger as to some of the choices made in this translation.

The poem touches on philosophical themes central to some of Borges' short stories and essays (see HERE).

My feeling is that the translation fails to convey the appalling horror of the useless compass metaphor (i.e. man's place in a universe that has its center everywhere and its circumference nowhere), so brilliantly conveyed by Borges. Borges dedicated the poem to Esther Zemborain de Torres. Perhaps she represented, for him, the fleeting compass (esta aguja azul, lúcida y leve)?

Many of the rhymes seem "easy outs" (Thing/squabbling; agony/cryptography) or rhyme-driven (life/strife) or invented, i.e. not in the original and changing the meaning (the word "seem" to rhyme with dream).

Though I didn't need the crib, I thought the way it was presented was an unnecessary distraction.

Last edited by Catherine Chandler; 10-08-2013 at 03:08 PM. Reason: Added link to Esther Zemborain de Torres obituary
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