Antigo Nick

Antigo Nick  is an illustrated translation of Sophocles' Antigone that is both contemporary and creative.  Anne Carson's translation, Robert Currie's book design, and Bianca Stone's illustrations combine to provide a treat for the senses.

While the majority of the lovely illustrations fail to relate to or elaborate on the story, that was evidently a deliberate decision on Carson's part, and the often absurd images are beautifully rendered on transparent pages.

The translation is modern, campy, and abridged.  The allusions to Brecht, Beckett, and Hegel (and others) heighten the absurdity of the illustrations and of the textual format by replacing mythological references.  

I found myself reading aloud (because, indeed, the original play was meant to be seen and heard, not read silently) and the work is accessible in a single sitting because Carson does not translate everything in the original--she compresses and stylizes.

I liked the use of Brecht's alienation effect, the absurdest approach of Beckett, and the allusions to the dramatists.  Which is a little odd because I'm neither particularly fond of nor well-informed about their works.  I may have a new literary journey ahead of me--looking for a better understanding of Brecht and Beckett and some grain of understanding of Hegel's metaphysical philosophy.  All of which will be beyond my capacity, but now seems kind of--fun.  What a contradiction.

Here is a link to an article about interviewing Carson and Currie.  I especially liked the description of Carson who was leading a performance of AntagoNick at N.Y.U. :

"For the performance, Carson was wearing what she called her “Oscar Wilde suit”: slim plaid pants, a long dark coat with white stitching on the lapels and a bright red necktie featuring a picture of Geryon. N.Y.U. ...."

I must order a copy of Antigone.  I looked, but it appears I don't have one.  But before I do, I need to research and decide on which translation.  And I should reread Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus; the evolution of Creon (Kreon) is of particular interest.  I loved Carson's interpretation of Kreon and his list of nouns and verbs.

My thanks again to Gin Jenny for her review of Antigo Nick.  I'm so glad I ordered it and have the gorgeous little book  and Carson's loose translation of a play that I'd failed to appreciate on first reading it years and years ago.

The book is a work of art in every sense of the word, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

One caveat:  reading the handwritten text did cause occasional hesitation.  Some of the words in the black and red text were jammed together, and I had to pause and distinguish where they separated.

Greek drama/translation.  2012.  180 pages.

What Is a Classic?

This interesting article by Liz Foley is on the The Man Booker Prize site and tries to determine what makes a book a classic. The author quotes Mark Twain's assertion that it is a book that people "praise but don't read," before giving her favorite answer by Italo Calvino, "A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." I can certainly agree with that...although I don't find that any of the prizes Pulitzer, Booker, etc. necessarily choose books that I would consider classics. I'm sure there are lists available to see the prize winners over several decades and determine which books have lived up to their promise of both critical and popular success.

Foley makes some good points about the way we determine classics and says that we make a mistake if we consider classic works "as historical artifacts rather than vibrant, engaging, hugely varied pieces of writing." Another point that Foley makes concerns the influence some classics have on modern writers.

"The connection between the classics and modern writing gave Vintage the idea to celebrate the launch list (Booker Prize)--the Vintage Classic Twins." I have to admit that the ten pairings (of one classic, one modern book) leave me bewildered as I've only read one of each pair and can't make much of a judgment. For example, I've readThe Inferno by Dante but not Sabbath's Theater by Philip Roth and I've read Possession by A.S. Byatt, but not Middlemarch by George Eliot; I've read one of each of the ten pairings, sometimes the classic, sometimes the modern twin, but in no case have I read both. The list of ten pairs can be found here, where there is also information about a contest to find a twin for Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie--the prize is the a complete set of all ten Vintage Classic Twins--I'd like to win the prize, but haven't read Midnight's Children.

Yesterday when I arrived at the Cottage, Mr. P. bumped into me with his walker. I saw him coming, with a big grin all over his face. He pretends like he doesn't want attention, but he loves it. I told him he shouldn't abuse me, as if outraged by the gentle bump, and he said, "Well, you have a rope down your back." My braid.

Laddie was much more talkative yesterday than he has been lately, although the words he wants often escape him, he knows what he wants to say. He was sitting at the bar eating a slice of red velvet cake and drinking coffee when I arrived, and greeted me with a big "Jenny Claire!" Very rewarding to me; so far he has always known me, but avoids using my name more and more frequently. He now will introduce me (he does this every time to exactly the same people) as his daughter to avoid having to say my name. When he got tired, he said, "Do you have everything you need?" When I assured him that I did, he said he had to leave and would see me later.

Today, off to Baton Rouge to see the grands!