Re: Poetry: Ithaca by Cavafy

From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Sun Jul 21 2002 - 11:16:06 MDT


Amara Graps:
>> Here is a poem by Cavafy, his most famous, and one of
>> my favorite poems. Happy Sunday.

Dan <neptune@mars.superlink.net>:
> Funny you should print that one. My favorite of his is "The God
> Abandons Antony," especially the Keeley and Sherrard translation.

That one I find too depressing (my version says he's stepping off
the window!), even though it shows great courage. Maybe it's due
to my mood today, or, more likely, due to our different translations.

I have _The Complete Poems of Cavafy_, Rae Dalven translation,
Harvest, 1976.

I looked at "Ithaca" in another translation by Desmond O'Grady, and
it's so weirdly different from the Dalven translation which I posted,
that I can see (again) how important is the translation of foreign authors
to render meanings.

Thanks for your feedback.

Amara

P.S. I see your Antony version here:
http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~gehalk/Cavafy_The_God_Abandons_Antony.html

And the subject does not appear to be jumping out the window.



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