Byobu - Softcover

Vitale, Ida

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1913867021 ISBN 13: 9781913867027

Verlag: Charco Press, 2021

Inhaltsangabe

Byobu reveals a rich inner world, one driven by its meticulous attention to our rich outer one.

"a story's existence, even if not well defined or well assigned, even if only in its formative stage, just barely latent, emits vague but urgent emanations."

Byobu's every interaction trembles with possibility and faint menace. A crack in the walls of his house, marring it forever, means he must burn it down. A stoplight asks what the value of obedience is, what hopefulness it contains, and what insensible anarchy it defies. In brief episodes, aphorisms, and moments of spiritual turbulence and gentle scrutiny, reside a wealth of habits, worries, curiosities, pleasures, peculiarities, and efforts to understand.

Representative of the modesty and complexity of Ida Vitale's poetic universe, Byobu flushes the world with meaning and playfully offers another way of inhabiting the every day.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Ida Vitale (Uruguay, 1923) is a poet, translator, essayist, and literary critic. In 2018, she was just the fifth woman to receive the prestigious Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the highest recognition for literature in Spanish. In addition to the Cervantes Prize, she has also received the FIL Literature Prize (2018), Max Jacob Prize (2017), Federico García Lorca Poetry Prize (2016), Reina Sofía Poetry Prize (2015), Alfonso Reyes Prize (2014), and Octavio Paz Prize (2009), as well as many other honours, including being named by the BBC as one of the 100 most influential women of 2019.

Sean Manning is a translator from Spanish and French. He has translated numerous works by such authors as Carlos Pereda, Eduardo Lalo, Édouard Glissant, Gabriela Polit Dueñas, Azahara Palomeque, and Ricardo Piglia. His translation of Ida Vitale's Byobu (Charco Press, 2021) was shortlisted for the 2022 Queen Sofía Spanish Institute Prize. His work has also appeared in Asymptote, Exchanges, AzonaL, The Common, and Review . He has a PhD in Spanish and Latin American literature from the University of Texas at Austin, where he is currently a Lecturer teaching courses on language, literature, and writing.

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A STORYThere is a story. No one knows exactly when it began. Those who might be associated with it are, in fact, unaware that the story exists. It has no name to identify it, and it is unclear whether it has one protagonist or two. It could be A’s story that B does not acknowledge, or vice versa. It could also be that neither of them knows the story exists and that it involves them. It is very likely that one will die without ever realizing that he is the story’s true protagonist, and that the other has usurped his role. In any event, a story’s existence, even if not well defined or well assigned, even if only in its formative stage, just barely latent, emits vague but urgent emanations. Byobu, who suspects its dark existence, feels compelled to scrutinize, like a philatelist, the edges of its possible arrival. He would do well not to underestimate its flexible, disordered density: at any moment it can achieve directed speed and plunge its asphyxiating paralysis down upon him. There are many who dream of the adventure that each day should hatch for them. But when it emerges, they find some flaw, even horrifying signs of leprosy, with an appearance they had imagined attractive. And they ignore it, though they never forget its unanswered call. And the story remains free, unoccupied, like a lightning bolt no lightning rod has grounded. Byobu knows he is the exposed par excellence. So he’s vigilant, watching suspiciously the stories that roam free, with no A or B who will have them.

LIFE IS NOT A STRAIGHT LINEByobu gets up early. Not too early, but since there is no pressing work for him to get done, the start of his day always feels excessively matinal. What to have for breakfast? Juice, tea, yogurt, cereal? He simplifies his options, though not without some anxiety: cereal and coffee. Coffee? At the same time, he looks for a CD, but once the music starts, he realizes it’s not what he feels like listening to at the moment. He switches it out twice before finishing his breakfast. He needs to buy some groceries. He chooses a particular supermarket, but it’s the least select of them all. There he’ll find sugar but not the tea and vinegar he prefers. He also has a letter that needs sending. To do that, he will have to go a different way. Which is more urgent then? He’ll settle this doubt while he showers. However, between whether or not to wash his hair and after some enticing idea crosses his mind, he forgets what it was he wanted to have settled by the end of his shower. Then, as he’s getting dressed, he hesitates between wearing a certain pair of pants or committing them to the dirty laundry.At this time of the morning Byobu is exhausted, maybe an effect of the hot steam. He should read a bit to rest. This raises the problem of which book to choose, since his habitual indecisiveness means he always has several at different stages of completion. A book of short stories sits waiting near the armchair where he has plopped himself down. This does not spare him a decision. Which of the stories? The chosen author is of the kind—fortunately now few and far between—who takes pleasure in making the reader’s life difficult or one who is more accommodating and does not wish to upset any of his possible admirers: the protagonist of the finally chosen story must side with the boy who is working with him or opt for the company that has hired them both, whose demands are in conflict with his political beliefs; but the ending is ambiguous. The author assumes that whoever follows him through the twists of his invention is sure of their own ideas and will turn to them to give their ending to the story.This is, of course, not the case with Byobu, who now feels the burden of an additional doubt added to those already muddling up his head. But he decides to stick to his original plan and leave the house. He manages to do it. Once he is in the street, he feels a moist droplet hit his nose. Could it have come from a sparrow in mid-flight? Is the neighbour on the top floor carelessly watering his plants? There are clouds. Is a downpour approaching? Three possibilities creating a new choice he must make immediately. Turn around? If he continues on, he’ll need to take an umbrella.Suddenly, he remembers that a friend had planned to call him. It would be rude if he were not there to answer. How has the morning gotten away from him like this? He’ll have to go back to wait for the call or to get the umbrella. Maybe this is hopeless: the phone will ring, and the conversation will draw out, as courtesy often obliges. And with that, it will be time for lunch. And also, probably, time for the rain to precipitate, if that’s what it has in mind, at which point the entire morning’s chain of options will dissolve, because while Byobu can easily accept being the victim of an unexpected rainfall, he never goes out once it has already become a palpable event.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Charco Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2021
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1913867021
• ISBN 13: 9781913867027
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 85
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland