My literary week

[@lindysmagpiereads]

I attended an online panel conversation with publishers and translators. There was a question from the audience about how you can tell a book is a good translation if you aren’t able to read the original language. I liked the response: if the writing flows, if it delights the reader, it’s a good translation.

[@theonlyrealproperty2567]

Aha, that is what I instinctively felt so it makes me happy to hear this verified by the publishing/translating professionals.

[@lindysmagpiereads]

I just finished Astra Taylor’s The Age of Insecurity. The final chapter is called Escaping the Burrow. In addition to talking about the claustrophobic nature of Kafka’s The Burrow, Taylor writes that it “offers a warning about the risks posed by the quest for individual security. […] What makes us insecure and anxious? Are our fears real or imagined?” I didn’t know about Kafka’s daily life as a functionary within a government insurance agency. I learned from Taylor that he was a devoted industrial reformer, challenging employers’ insistence on worker culpability.

[@theonlyrealproperty2567]

Wow, we are in synch with our reading topics! I love this so much. I knew that Kafka worked in the insurance industry, but not those details ... fascinating.

[@kellylyons7611]

2 comments: you give booktube too much credit. I had never heard of rupi kaur, never mind read her, so you may very well have been on to something to compare her to emily dickinson. the next thing, you mention trying to get away from going off and reading reviews of books after having read said books. yes, I get it, have an original opinion. but devoid of any book clubs or mutual readings with another person, it's not a bad to listen to another's opinion that focuses your own (and hopefully you can riff off them which allows you to have even more insightful analysis). find strength in community, don't be a hermit (even though most of us readers have such yearnings often).

[@theonlyrealproperty2567]

Hello :-) I was just watching a couple of your videos and about to comment there! I love your eclectic channel and refreshing honesty. About your comments here - thank you, thank you, because you have (perhaps without quite realising it) pointed out that I sometimes drive myself crazy by imagining an audience of PhDs and professors hehe. I'm also really hard on myself when it comes to proving my own "independent thought", yes yes, you are spot on when you remind me that a community is what this is about. Warm regards to you! E

[@kellylyons7611]

@@theonlyrealproperty2567 oh yes lots of us out here want to show (ourselves primarily) how innovative we can be and find connections that others overlook. consider it free form jazz when we riff off of others. that little metaphor helped me get over the hump. I act as though it is past tense. I still struggle too. oh well. -cheers