Tag Archives: writing

The Humble Art

Posted on March 13, 2021 by JMN

I support the premise, aspirationally, that translation “involves being a writer,” to quote this article. The premise piggybacks on something I took on board long ago — that the first asset of a capable translator is to write well in … Continue reading →

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‘Ethics of Translation’ (?)

Posted on March 12, 2021 by JMN

As a presumptive translator I’m nagged by a sense of straying where I don’t belong. Where is my writ to translate into a non-native language, for example? I didn’t suck Spanish from mother’s teat. How can I possibly match what … Continue reading →

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Au Revoir, Dr. Ferlinghetti

Posted on February 24, 2021 by JMN

“In some ways what I really did was mind the store,” he told The Guardian in 2006. “When I arrived in San Francisco in 1951 I was wearing a beret. If anything I was the last of the bohemians rather … Continue reading →

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Shiny Objects and Hot Takes

Posted on February 7, 2021 by JMN

When I re-read my EthicalDative posts at a later date they often seem overly arch or frivolous — less trenchant and cleansing than they felt at the moment of posting. “Stale” is the word to describe them, I suppose, with … Continue reading →

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Away with Wayward Words!

Posted on January 30, 2021 by JMN

In a dispute with the EU, AstraZeneca’s CEO insists their contract requires only “best reasonable efforts” to meet delivery schedules. Lawyers disagreed over the language of the E.U. contract, which was only partly made public.(Steven Erlanger and Matina Stevis-Gridneff, “E.U. … Continue reading →

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‘Style Is Character’

Posted on January 29, 2021 by JMN

Didion once wrote, “Style is character…” Rhetorically, a “this is that” assertion that plops two abstractions around a copulative can be a facile expedient for simulating profundity. Nathan Heller comments that Didion’s observation about style has to do with “the … Continue reading →

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On a Parlous Trek the Ground Slopes East

Posted on January 17, 2021 by JMN

The gap between China and the United States is shrinking as China is the only major economy expected to report economic growth for 2020 despite the pandemic. And brawling with itself at some crossroad truck stop far over the horizon … Continue reading →

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‘I Belong to Brazil’

Posted on December 30, 2020 by JMN

The 1940s debut novel of Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector (1920 – 1977), “Perto do Coração Selvagem” (“Near to the Wild Heart”), is described as the “reflections of a young female protagonist determined to live freely in a world ordered by … Continue reading →

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Missionary Phallacy

Posted on December 26, 2020 by JMN

Shere Hite (1942-2020) published “The Hite Report” in 1976. It gathered candid feedback from women suggesting canonical sexual congress was not the be-all and end-all prescribed by male-centric orthodoxy. Two more best-selling studies followed in 1981 and 1987. Hite’s work … Continue reading →

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Virago

Posted on December 21, 2020 by JMN

A correspondent said she was reading a “virago book.” I said. “Is it by, or about, one?” It turns out Virago is a distinguished publishing house. As if on cue, this informative review of Lennie Goodings’s memoir appears. Virago started … Continue reading →

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