I haven't read Poe since junior high and so I decided to read his "best" short stories in keeping with my eerie October reads. Overall, I loved the collection. I was able to see just why Poe is such an icon. His work was chilling, but not graphic or scary enough to keep me, a total wuss, from reading it. My favorites were "The Black Cat" and "The Masque of the Red Death."
I found Rispondimi in the library by accident while looking at the novels of Amy Tan (Tamaro was close to Tan :). I noticed the title in Italian and picked it up. I'm so glad I did because it was fantastic!
Rispondimi contains three short novellas about desperation. The stories are sad but the writing itself is beautiful and real. I did not come away from the book depressed as you might think. It is a useful, touching portrait of human weakness, struggle and regret.
I have to complain about the translation job. I was about to say that a native English speaker should have translated this work, until I saw the John Cullen is from New Orleans! Overall the translation didn't hinder the power of the stories, but it was done poorly. Example: Translating "coming of age" or "turning eighteen" as "I couldn't wait to reach my majority." I am aware of the literal translation that would lead to this but an English speaker should know better.
All in all, highly recommended!
2 comments:
Translation's always fun. Or, at least, it can go horribly wrong, which is almost the same thing.
I haven't read any Poe in years, thanks for reminding us how good he is.
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