Home >> The Modern Language Review, Volume 103, Number 2

Abstract and Concrete: Translating Coral Bracho

Author: Boll, Tom

Source: The Modern Language Review, Volume 103, Number 2, 1 April 2008 , pp. 438-455(18)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

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Abstract:

Translations by the English poet Katherine Pierpoint of the Mexican Coral Bracho test the terms abstract and concrete, popularized by Ezra Pound and T. E. Hulme. A comparative reading redefines the apparently concrete language of Pierpoint as a more evasive notation of the relationship between a perceiving consciousness and the physical world. Conversely, the abstraction of Coral Bracho employs intricate patterns of syntax and sound to foreground a materiality of the word, which is defined by Paul Valéry and theorists of the Hispanic neo-baroque. The terms abstract and concrete themselves make an imperfect, if revealing, translation of the reading experience.

Keywords: Translations; Katherine Pierpoint; Coral Bracho; abstract; concrete; Ezra Pound; T. E. Hulme; perceiving consciousness; syntax; Paul Valéry; Hispanic neo-baroque

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Poetry Translation Centre, London

Publication date: 2008-04-01

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  • The Modern Language Review, the flagship journal of the Association, is available to all individual members as part of their subscription. MLR is one of the oldest journals in its field, maintaining an unbroken publication record since its foundation in 1905, and publishing more than 3,000 articles and 20,000 book reviews.

    Each volume consists of four issues, published in January, April, July and October of each year. Its 1000+ annual pages are divided roughly equally between articles, predominantly on medieval and modern literature in the languages of Europe, and over 500 reviews of books in these areas. All contributions are in English, and each section is edited by a noted scholar in the field, under the overall supervision of the General Editor. Articles are chosen not only for their scholarly worth and originality but also, as far as possible, for their potential interest to a wider readership in other disciplines.
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