thorough,Lev.Grateful. You are one of the reasons Im staying on substack.Im very busy with several manuscripts Im sending out, along with trying to get an agent ( onceupon a time...etc- one passed away, the other disapppeared.
My friend Michael Palma did not set out, intentionally, to translate Dante's Divine Comedy for W.W. Norton. But during the annual Maundy Thursday readings of Dante (at St. John the Divine, NYC), he found so many errors in published editions that he began translating the small passage he would read when it was his turn.
He decided to translate all of the Inferno, in Dante's original metrical form.
W.W. Norton loved Palma's translation of Inferno, done in an exacting terza rima (for which he won the Rome Prize) - - but they were disinclined to have him move forward with the other two books (Purgatorio, Paradiso).
After a long career in letters, Palma retired and was startled when -- a dozen years later -- W.W. Norton commissioned the remaining sections by Dante.
Now Norton was in a hurry, it seemed.
They wanted La Divina Commedia for a certain seasonal catalogue.
They moved up his deadlines.
Palma did his best and finished proofing last autumn (2022).
hope they get off their rearfenders and do the right thing. If I were redoing Webster's Dictionay and in chage of invigorating certain or all words, under ANARCHY I would use only one word: publishing.
thorough,Lev.Grateful. You are one of the reasons Im staying on substack.Im very busy with several manuscripts Im sending out, along with trying to get an agent ( onceupon a time...etc- one passed away, the other disapppeared.
Thanks for staying and for reading. Ah, agents....so many bizarre stories people have.
My friend Michael Palma did not set out, intentionally, to translate Dante's Divine Comedy for W.W. Norton. But during the annual Maundy Thursday readings of Dante (at St. John the Divine, NYC), he found so many errors in published editions that he began translating the small passage he would read when it was his turn.
He decided to translate all of the Inferno, in Dante's original metrical form.
W.W. Norton loved Palma's translation of Inferno, done in an exacting terza rima (for which he won the Rome Prize) - - but they were disinclined to have him move forward with the other two books (Purgatorio, Paradiso).
After a long career in letters, Palma retired and was startled when -- a dozen years later -- W.W. Norton commissioned the remaining sections by Dante.
Now Norton was in a hurry, it seemed.
They wanted La Divina Commedia for a certain seasonal catalogue.
They moved up his deadlines.
Palma did his best and finished proofing last autumn (2022).
Not a word has he heard from his editors.
Hurry up and wait...too common in publishing.
My latest poetry collection has been on my British publisher's web site since Spring:
... > https://universepress.net/product/apprenticed-to-the-night/
The book has gotten no less than 4 rave reviews. (I've lost count since not all have been published.)
I've done interviews and readings.
I had my book cover animated for social media.
But I still do not know my actual release date.
Assuming it will be after the Frankfurt Book Fair in October - - but who knows?
That is so bizarre. I've done one or two "sneak peek" readings of forthcoming books, but have typically waited (and waited) for publication.
Congrats on the good reviews!
In POETRY, everything is bizarre these days, Lev.
The downside: my book is not yet available for sale, not on AMZ, not yet in bookstores.
The "fun side" is that reviewers will jump on a PRE-release book faster than one that's in the pipeline and available to all.
So I'm just going with the flow, with appreciation for any pre-sale attention for "Apprenticed to the Night."
Thank you for your good wishes. :-)
hope they get off their rearfenders and do the right thing. If I were redoing Webster's Dictionay and in chage of invigorating certain or all words, under ANARCHY I would use only one word: publishing.
I agree. It's only gotten crazier and more unpredictable every year since my first book in 1990. And now with AI, everyone's an author.