🦋 Island Food
I've been enjoying the stories in Zoetrope: All-Story's Latin American fiction issue. Reading them very slowly, moving back and forth between the Spanish and the translation; this is definitely helping get them anchored in my thoughts... Ronaldo Menéndez' story "Insular Menu", about Cubans trying to get by during a period of rationed food, makes me hungry! The story is funny and colorful, the narrator's neighbors raising pigs and crocodiles in their apartments, the zoo director fattening and slaughtering the ostrich, the neighborhood kids fishing from the rooftop for cats; it closes with a dazzling description of the Cuban cuisine that the narrator is missing. The entire long paragraph is well worth your while, I'm just going to quote a bit of it:
I saw the populous sea that surrounds the islands, and in the sea saw nets and in the nets saw multitudes of shrimp and prawns, saw them populating long familial tables below smiling faces, saw dishes of avocados in slivers and slivers, making a green zebra out of the ceramic, saw oxtail gleaming under chili cream sauce, saw squid and octopi drowning in their ink, saw plantains, mameys, star apples, sapotes, sweetsop, chirimoyas, mangos, saw extra-large lobsters letting their fragrance touch all noses equally...
This is a passage where rhythm is really key. Take a look at the original:
Vi el populoso mar que rodea la isla, y del mar vi redes y de las redes vi muchedumbres de camarones y langostinos, los vi poblando largas mesas familiares bajo rostros risueños, vi fuentes de aguacates en lascas y lascas y lascas, haciendo de la cerámica una cebra verde, vi rabo de toro encendido bajo crema de ajÃ, vi pulpos y calamares ahogados en su tinta, vi plátanos, mameyes, caimitos, zapotes, anones, chirimoyas y mangos, vi langostas de talla extra larga dejando que su olor tocara por igual todas las narices,...
...What to say? I like the English passage, and there does not seem to be any mistranslation (though "in slivers and slivers" is not great), but it does not hold a candle to the Spanish.
 Update: Jim Tucker posts his own attempt at an English translation in comments, and does it very well indeed.
posted morning of Sunday, April 26th, 2009
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Let's give English a second chance. Every language deserves a second chance:
I saw the teeming sea that rings the island, and in the sea I saw nets and in the nets I saw numberless shrimp and prawns. I saw them covering long family tables to smiling faces, and I saw slices and slices and slices of avocado that made a green zebra of the plate. I saw the glint of oxtail in chili sauce, and squid and octopus awash in their own ink. I saw plantains and mameys and star apples and sapotes and sweetsop and chirimoyas and mangos. I saw jumbo lobsters touching every nostril indiscriminately.
posted morning of April 27th, 2009 by Jim Tucker
Oh, thanks, Jim! That is very nice indeed.
posted morning of April 27th, 2009 by Jeremy
Gee Jeremy, my link came out so long and ugly on the right, with all those search-engine terms, that I feel kinda guilty. So here's a shorter one to wash away the bad taste.
posted morning of April 27th, 2009 by Jim Tucker
:) don't worry about it.
posted morning of April 27th, 2009 by Jeremy
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