So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the system, some people managing to negotiate independence, … - Elliott Colla

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You know what I think?" she says. "That people's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel. Advertising fillers in the newspaper, philosophy books, dirty pictures in a magazine, a bundle of ten-thousand-yen bills: when you feed 'em to the fire, they're all just paper.

Elliott Colla

So you have in Iraq some people falling prey to the system, some people managing to negotiate independence, and other people becoming outlaws, and being imprisoned and dying. You have all sorts. I don't know any other society where poetry has such a place.

Fall, Independence, Know, People, Place

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English is a forgiving language. It's not like Classical Arabic and it's not like French. You can speak broken English and be expressive and no one will hold it against you.

Against, Broken, Expressive, Forgiving, Language, Speak

Academic writing you have to get right. Fiction you have to get plausible. And there's a world of difference.

Difference, Differences, Fiction, Right, World, Writing

In translation studies we talk about domestication - translation styles that make something familiar - or estrangement - translation styles that make something radically different. I use a lot of both in my translation, and modernism does both. For instance, if you look at the way James Joyce presents Ulysses, is that domesticating a classic? Think of it as an experiment in relation to a well-known text in another language.

Classic, Different, Style, Think, Thinking, Way

There were illegal poets like Muzaffar al-Nawab, this is the thing - Muzaffar was widely known and he didn't really have books. He would deliver these readings on cassette tape. Go on YouTube and listen to him. He's like a preacher. He's a really interesting figure in modern Iraqi life.

Book, Interesting, Known, Preacher, Reading, Youtube

The truly astounding thing is the Baathist regime supports poetry like nobody else, probably in the world.

Astounding, Probably, Support, Supports, Thing, World