Bukowski-Exhibition in Germany in summer 2014 (3 Viewers)

Whoa, what exhibition? What did I miss? [...]
Good morning, Mr. Johannes.

It's been in the pipeline for over 2 years now and was first planned for summer 2013, as you can read in this picture:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=292713370833374

when it became clear, we wouldn't make the deadline, we switched to 2014 and now the date is definite and official.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=314230822014962
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=352501038187940
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=457448034359906

The opening is on Thursday, 10th of July 2014.
Also this year's symposium will be there and NOT in Andernach!
I'll be there at both these occations and several other events during the exhibition.


see also HERE (if you know the language).
 
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[...] Almost 500 km...
I know, my dear Ponder, that's a long way.
But here's the reason, why you should come:

DSC_6477_bottle-closeup_a.jpg


(still unopened ...)
 
I don't know if I will make it to the opening on 10th of July 2014 , but I will be there for sure, count me in Babe...
 
Petey, this year's symposium will also be there.
So, if you can't make it to the opening, there's August on your schedule.
 
This article is in German --> http://www.abendblatt.de/kultur-live/article125580222/Als-der-Gossenpoet-Charles-Bukowski-nach-Hamburg-kam.html

In the last paragraph the big Martinized-Mutilation of the Manuscripts is cited, but only as a little smooth-out because Bukowskis wild lyrics didn't fit the zeitgeist anymore. Which isn't exactly what happened, as we know.

Still, the first mention of the changed manuscripts in a German newspaper, as far as I know. They must have it from you, roni, right?
 
[...] the first mention of the changed manuscripts in a German newspaper, as far as I know. [...]
well, baby, there have been a couple more lately:


- WDR:
http://www1.wdr.de/themen/infokompakt/nachrichten/kulturnachrichten/kulturnachrichten6422.html

- RP-Online:
http://www.rp-online.de/kultur/charles-bukowskis-texte-offenbar-stark-verfaelscht-aid-1.4081105

- Deutschlandradio Kultur:
http://www.deutschlandradiokultur.d...?drn:date=2014-03-03&drn:time=15:30&drn:pos=2

- NordWestZeitung-online:
http://www.nwzonline.de/kultur/schattenseiten-des-amerikanischen-traums_a_13,6,351948406.html

- Darmstädter Echo:
http://www.echo-online.de/freizeit/kunstkultur/literatur/Der-trockene-Trinker;art639,4804238

... and some more.
We've even made it to Page 1 of the 'Süddeutsche Zeitung'!! (even though it was only the 'Streiflicht' and the author didn't take our concern too serious.)


Here's a 5-min radio-interview with me on the subject:
- SWR2-Interview:
http://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sen...252/did=12976510/nid=659252/ezuhe9/index.html

and here an interview on various Buk-topics including the falsification-scandal:
- HR-Interview:
http://www.hr-online.de/website/radio/hr-info/index.jsp?rubrik=78481&key=standard_document_51061939
 
Whoa! I see, you have been busy. Well, it was time that some public heard about it.

Of course, Germany is extra-special, because let's face it, sadly here it's not only Martin who added, skipped and changed the original work to the worse but in some cases Weissner did that too. It's different because translations are always difficult, but sometimes he skipped whole paragraphs and so on.

Both obviously loved Bukowskis work and devotedly boosted him into stardom, but if you compare the original text in some cases with what they did to it ... well. It's strange. And sad.
 
That's why I said:

It's different because translations are always difficult

Weissner made some changes in the German translation of Hollywood for instance, that cannot be explained through translation-issues. I don't have the German translation now but if I remember correctly he skipped a whole part that made himself look "bad", although it was a very mild satire about Weissner calling Bukowski and using chliche-like "American Slang" while talking to Bukowski on the phone. The whole scene is not in the German translation.

And the whole first chapter is completely different, it does not exist in the original version. Who wrote that first chapter for the German translation? Weissner himself?

He claimed that Bukowski knew about this and was okay with it, which is probably true and a major difference to the postum Martinized editions. But just to say that some of Weissners changes compared to the original texts are as drastic as Martins worst Martinizations.

So in some cases and parts German Bukowski readers have a very different text than the original.
 
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it was a very mild satire about Weissner calling Bukowski and using chliche-like "American Slang" while talking to Bukowski on the phone. The whole scene is not in the German translation.
Then, the phone rang. It was long distance. It was my agent and translator from Germany, Karl Vossner. Karl loved to talk the way he thought hip Americans talked.
“Hey, motherfucker, how ya doin’?”
“All right, Karl, you still riding your joystick?”
“Yeah, my ceiling is riddled with flakes of dry sperm.”
“Good man.”
“Thanks, baby. I learn all the good things from you. But, baby, I got good news. You wanna hear, motherfucker?”
“Oh, yeah, yeah, baby!”
“Well, besides whistling ‘Dixie’ out of my asshole, I’ve translated 3 of your books: poems, The Lice of Doom; short stories, Cesspool Dreams; and your novel, Central Station Arson.”
“I owe you my left ball, Karl.”
“O.K., send it airmail. But, baby, there’s more...”
“Tell me, tell me...”
“Well, we had a book fair here last month and I met with the 6 biggest publishers in Germany and let me tell you, they are hot for your body!”
“My body?”
“Your body of work, you know. Dig?”
“I dig, baby.”
“I got these 6 big publishers in a hotel room, I laid out the beer and the wine and the cheese and the nuts. Then I told them it would be open bidding for the advance on the 3 books. They just laughed and got into the booze. I had those assholes playing right into our hand. You are a hot number and they know it. I told a few jokes to get them loose, then the bidding started. Well, to get to the shorthairs, Krumph made the largest bid. I had the motherfucker sign a contract. Then we all hung one on together. All us assholes got stinko, Krumph especially. So, we scored. We’re in like Flynn!”
“You’re one cool dude, Karl. What’s my cut?”
“Baby, it should amount to around 35 grand. I’ll wire it to you within a week.”
“Man oh man, that’s really rowdy!”
“It beats blowing glass, motherfucker.”
“And how, baby. Hey, Karl, ever heard this one?
What’s the difference between a chicken’s asshole and a rabbit’s asshole?”
“‘No, what’s the difference?”
“Ask little Dick.”
“I got it! Far out!”
With that, our conversation was over. Within an hour I was 45 thousand dollars richer. 30 years of starvation and rejection were starting to kick in.
 
Exactly this, thx!

Now as I said, I'm talking from memory only. If I'm wrong I apologize. But maybe roni can confirm it. Dig this: Weissner cut out that whole part for (obviously) no other reason than him not liking to be pictured that way.

I don't know, man. I don't want to be nit-picking and insist on Weissner. I respect his work and admire him for what he did for Bukowski.

But isn't a thing like this just as fucked-up as anything Martin did in his worst hours to some original Bukowski-manuscript?
 
isn't a thing like this just as fucked-up as anything Martin did in his worst hours to some original Bukowski-manuscript?
No it isn't. Because we still have the originally published version to compare it to, like we just did. Manipulating the original English versions of half of the collected poems was far worse. Incalculably worse.

No one expects a translation to be exact because it can't be. No one expects a novel published in its original language to be exactly what the author typed, because editors edit novels.

But poetry is a completely different art form, and you do expect published poetry to be 99.99% the work of the poet. What the poet typed, not the editor.

When a visual artist has a show, they create a body of work and the gallerist selects which work will go up on the wall. Which painting will be by the door, which three will hang together and which won't be shown at all. That's editing. Now imagine the gallerist stood back to look at the show, wasn't quite satisfied, and picked up a paintbrush to "fix" half of the paintings.

That is exactly what Martin did. Weissner was just painting copies of the artwork for a show in a different country, and no one walking into that gallery would expect the work to be exactly the same as the original art hanging on the other side of the world.
 
No it isn't. Because we still have the originally published version to compare it to, like we just did. Manipulating the original English versions of half of the collected poems was far worse. Incalculably worse.
You are right, I hadn't thought of that. I just thought of the original text versus the one in the hands of the readers. The reader can pick up the original and compare. That is not possible with unpublished manuscripts. Still, as long as these manuscripts exist, somebody with access to them can compare. Like we did.

When a visual artist has a show, they create a body of work and the gallerist selects which work will go up on the wall. Which painting will be by the door, which three will hang together and which won't be shown at all. That's editing. Now imagine the gallerist stood back to look at the show, wasn't quite satisfied, and picked up a paintbrush to "fix" half of the paintings.

That is exactly what Martin did. Weissner was just painting copies of the artwork for a show in a different country, and no one walking into that gallery would expect the work to be exactly the same as the original art hanging on the other side of the world.

That's right too, but what I am saying is that Weissner did more than just copying ... he cut out parts of the painting because he personally did not like them and - as far as we know - painted parts himself in his copies. Like the first two pages of the German version of Hollywood. If they are from Bukowski, where are they?

Now what kind of translator does something like this? What kind of translator invents a fake Henry Miller quote and makes the author a pimp on all the book covers in his country when he never was something like that?

But you are right, you can't fully compare Martin and Weissner in this respect. Martins "fixing" is much worse, if only because he waited until after Bukowskis death to really start it.

Bukowski: I read your translation of Hollywood.
Weissner: Yeah baby, what’d you think?
Bukowski: I thought it was full of shit, man.
Weissner: Hey baby, when I translate I'm the hero of my translation.
:acb:

That's funny, by the way.

"I dig, baby." :cool:
 
Weissner did more than just copying ... he cut out parts of the painting because he personally did not like them
Right. That was out of line, and he shouldn't have made those decisions himself. But again, I don't think anyone expects a translation to be literal.
 
Right. That was out of line, and he shouldn't have made those decisions himself. But again, I don't think anyone expects a translation to be literal.
I did some translation work, and what Johannes describes is not related to translating difficulties. Cutting out whole parts borders on the unethical.

With the exception of the early lyrical poetry, the only big translating difficulty I could see for Bukowski's writing is to find equivalence for slang expressions in the target language. Otherwise, the words are syntax do not seem to be hard translating in any language. But maybe that's different for German? I only translated into French.


@roni I can't see any date for the symposium, has it been fixed yet?
 
I did some translation work, and what Johannes describes is not related to translating difficulties. Cutting out whole parts borders on the unethical.
Like I said, "he shouldn't have made those decisions himself".
With the exception of the early lyrical poetry, the only big translating difficulty I could see for Bukowski's writing is to find equivalence for slang expressions in the target language. Otherwise, the words are syntax do not seem to be hard translating in any language.
You're ignoring the fact that art isn't about words and syntax and linguistic technicalities. It's about what lives between the words and syntax. It's about how something makes you feel, not the precise order of the words on the paper.

That's why translation will always fall far short. In order to translate something the translator has to determine the meaning of the words, and the meaning of something like poetry is usually wide open. Add to that the cultural nuances that are all over work like Bukowski's and the act of translation becomes almost comically futile and doomed.

Even though many of you academic types will chuckle at the idea, at this point I might as well go ahead and say that I also firmly believe that translation is ultimately an ego-driven act. Like copying a painting or covering a song. But that's another subject all together.

Art is art and it shouldn't be tampered with or interpreted or remade.

If that means this group of people or that group of people can't understand it, so be it. I understand why people are compelled to do it and to consume it, but just because something is accepted practice doesn't make it valid.
 
Like I said, "he shouldn't have made those decisions himself".
You're ignoring the fact that art isn't about words and syntax and linguistic technicalities. It's about what lives between the words and syntax. It's about how something makes you feel, not the precise order of the words on the paper.

That's why translation will always fall far short. In order to translate something the translator has to determine the meaning of the words, and the meaning of something like poetry is usually wide open. Add to that the cultural nuances that are all over work like Bukowski's and the act of translation becomes almost comically futile and doomed.

True, I forgot about the cultural nuances.
Taking into accunt the feelings conveyed between the words is exactly why I ultimately didn't like translating literature, because you always end up choosing between different options and interpreting the writer's words.

Even though many of you academic types will chuckle at the idea, at this point I might as well go ahead and say that I also firmly believe that translation is ultimately an ego-driven act. Like copying a painting or covering a song. But that's another subject all together.
It is.
I would add that a good translator always try to tamper their own ego, but it is not always possible.
By the way, the French translations of Bukowski seem accurate enough, but I simply don't like the sound of his writing in this language. At all.

There is this old misogynist saying on translating: "A translation is like a woman, either it is beautiful or it is faithful."
 
I might as well go ahead and say that I also firmly believe that translation is ultimately an ego-driven act. Like copying a painting or covering a song.

well said!

it can never be more than an interpretation, which is why i can never bring myself to read them. the artist's fingerprints are no longer there.
 
As if to drive the point home, on the way to work I heard a "remix" of a 60s Wailers record, Soul Rebel, on the radio. It was just the original track with idiotic, straight ahead 4/4 electronic drum track forced on top of it (as most Wailers "remixes" are). Which completely destroys the nuance of the music and it so god damned stupid and pointless and utterly lacking any understanding of the original work that I can barely comprehend why certain elements of humanity are driven to such acts of desecration.


(Yes, I heard it on the radio. Contrary to what many of you probably believe, I listen to "new music" every day. And it doesn't come any newer than KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Typical public radio music show, in that the more obscure and unlistenable something is, the more they love it.)
 
Even though many of you academic types will chuckle at the idea, at this point I might as well go ahead and say that I also firmly believe that translation is ultimately an ego-driven act.
Perhaps a mix of ego and homage, at least at times. I own five different translations of Crime and Punishment; Constance Garnett, David Margarshack, Sidney Monas, David McDuff, and Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but I have no idea what Dos' true intent or frame of mind was. So while some people may find one to be "more authentically Russian," I'm not entirely sure if that means it's closer to what Dos was going for or not. Then again, without translations, I'd never have read the book. So, they have some value, to be sure.
 
there'll also be some unspectacular but funny curiosities, like a whole bunch of totally differnt editions of the same book:

DSC_6582-small.jpg


[...] @roni I can't see any date for the symposium, has it been fixed yet?

the symposium is set now to the very weekend of his birthday.
FRY 15 - SUN 17 of August 2014
in Sulzbach-Rosenberg (aka 'the edge of the world')

the opening of the exhibition however will be on
THR 10th of JULY 2014
 
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The program for the opening on JULY 10th is set now:

Guests will have to suffer through an introduction by me, the roni, first,
then be able to enjoy about halfanhour of Bukowski-reading by Arnd Rühlmann including Cello-accompany by Birgit Förstner
and after that a tour through the exhibition (guided by me).

Of course, there will be drinks to have.
[and I'll aim at offering some wine from the Very Start of the event (even though that's Not the usual habit at 'cultural' events).]
 
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The program for our SYMPOSIUM (AUGUST 16th) being a part of the exhibition, is Not entierly set by now.
We especially still lack the evening-event (usually a Buk-reading by some theatre-pro).

But We Definitely DO HAVE:
- David S. Calonne
- Abel Debritto
(by which I mean something like: "YEAH!!!")
I couldn't think of a more honorable line-up AT ALL!
Could You?
 
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there'll also be some unspectacular but funny curiosities, [...]

Like this one:
You always thought, ebooks would've been an invention of the very late 90s/early 2000th, did ya?

We show you the VERY FIRST ebook of Bukowski's work! It's a 3"5-disc from the early 90s (presumably 1993) and been published by MARO.
Contents:
the German 'Gedichte die einer schrieb bevor er im 8. Stockwerk aus dem Fenster sprang' and 'Kaputt in Hollywood'.

Here you go:

MARO-Diskette_1a.jpg
 
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We show you the VERY FIRST ebook of Bukowski's work! It's a 3"5-disc from the early 90s (presumably 1993) and been published by MARO.
Did you try to read it in a computer? You'd have to find an old one, I suppose, floppy drives haven't really been popular for some time...

Kim-Joke-18.jpg
 
Let's see, I spot an outsider, and another outsider, a yearbook, hot water music,
probably includes the best painting Buk ever did. I have to go now.
Oh- I believe I also see the Bukowski Special, 2004.
 

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