Transformation - Barbara Goldberg - Bog

Introduction by MYRA SKALREW

Languages are living organisms, according to George Steiner. Barbara

Goldberg, in Transformation, comes into her true landscape as she moves

between languages, exploring the evolution of her restless and profound

journey. At long last, she can call on her multiple resources-poetry and

prose, humor and tragedy, life in this century cast in the shadow of "19th

Century Vienna." The hidden memories of loved ones. "Even the dead"

who "can't keep a secret."

Languages-French, English, German, Hebrew. The divergent syntax of

each. All the while, "Fear is the ravenous wolf at my door. Sometimes I

throw him a scrap, in the shape of a poem." None of this prevents her from

tackling these translations-"as satisfying to create as an original (well, a lot

of the time!)." We go from Rilke's "Saltimbanques" in French to Israeli

poems in Hebrew, including from Iraq, to her long shared life and work with

Moshe Dor. The collection includes interviews and Barbara Goldberg's work

as International Editor for the Word Work Series including poetry from the

Kurdish, Ancient Greek, the French of Jean Cocteau, and

Spanish/Mexican.

As I write this I am drawn back to Walter Benjamin and George Steiner, as

if a "pure language…like a hidden spring seeking to force its way through

the silted channels of our differing tongues" will emerge. Transformation is a

powerful element in that journey, worthy of our attention.

[Note: After Babel: Aspects of Langua