The Journey
Page 15
“Iván,” I replied.
“Iván what?”
“Iván, the Russian boy.”
Intuitively, I feel that my intimate relationship with Russia goes back to that distant source. Of course, Billy did not believe me, but he didn’t let on. I was a rather odd, very lonely, very capricious boy, I think. My problems with mythomania lasted a few years longer, as a defense against the world. Sometimes, later, after a few drinks, they would reemerge, which angered and depressed me to a disproportionate degree. The only exception was my identification with Iván, the Russian boy, which at times still seems to me to be the real truth.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
AITMATOV, CHINGIZ. Trans. Mirra Ginsburg. The White Ship. Crown Publishers, 1972.
BENJAMIN, WALTER. Trans. R. Sieburth. Moscow Diary. Harvard University Press, 1986.
BERBEROVA, NINA. Trans. Philippe Radley. The Italics Are Mine. Vintage, 1993.
CANETTI, ELIAS. Trans. John Hargraves. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.
CHEKHOV, ANTON. Trans. Constance Garnett. “In the Ravine.” The Portable Chekhov. Penguin Books, 1977.
CIORAN, E.M. Trans. Richard Howard. History and Utopia. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
FERNÁNDEZ DE LIZARDI, JOSÉ JOAQUÍN. Trans. David L. Frye. The Mangy Parrot: The Life and Times of Periquillo Sarniento. Hackett Publishing Co., 2005.
KARLINKSY, SIMON. Marina Tsvetaeva: The Woman, Her World, and Her Poetry. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Letters: Summer 1926: Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva, and Rainer Maria Rilke. Trans. Margaret Wettlin, Walter Arndt, and Jamey Gambrell. Yevgeny Pasternak, Yelena Pasternak, and Konstantin M. Azadovsky, eds. New York Review Books, 2001.
MANDELSTAM, NADEZHDA. Trans. Max Hayward. Hope Against Hope: A Memoir. Modern Library, 1999.
MEYERHOLD, VSEVOLOD. Trans. John Crowfoot. Arrested Voices: Resurrecting the Disappeared Writers of the Soviet Regime. Martin Kessler Books, 1996.
NABOKOV, VLADIMIR. The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. New Directions Publishers, 1992.
PASTERNAK, BORIS. Trans. Manya Harari. An Essay in Autobiography. Collins and Harvill Press, 1959.
PILNYAK, BORIS. Trans. Vera T. Reck and Michael Green. Mahogany and Other Stories. Ardis Publishers, 1993.
TSVETAEVA, MARINA. Trans. J. Marin King. A Captive Spirit. The Overlook Press, 2009.
RILKE, RAINER MARIA. Trans. Edward Snow. The Poetry of Rilke. North Point Press, 2011.
SERGIO PITOL DEMENEGHI is one of Mexico’s most acclaimed writers, born in the city of Puebla in 1933. He studied law and philosophy in Mexico City. He is renowned for his intellectual career in both the field of literary creation and translation, and is renowned for his work in the promotion of Mexican culture abroad, which he achieved during his long service as a cultural attaché in Mexican embassies and consulates across the globe. He has lived perpetually on the run: he was a student in Rome, a translator in Beijing and Barcelona, a university professor in Xalapa and Bristol, and a diplomat in Warsaw, Budapest, Paris, Moscow and Prague. In recognition of the importance of his entire canon of work, Pitol was awarded the two most important prizes in the Spanish language world: the Juan Rulfo Prize in 1999 (now known as the FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages), and in 2005 he won the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish language world, often called the “Spanish language Nobel.” Deep Vellum will publish Pitol’s “Trilogy of Memory” in full in 2015-2016 (The Art of Flight; The Journey; The Magician of Vienna, all translated by George Henson), marking the first appearance of any of Pitol’s books in English.
GEORGE HENSON’S literary translations include The Art of Flight by Cervantes Prize laureate Sergio Pitol and The Heart of the Artichoke by fellow Cervantes recipient Elena Poniatowska. His translations of essays, poetry, and short fiction, including works by Andrés Neuman, Leonardo Padura, Juan Villoro, Miguel Barnet, and Alberto Chimal have appeared in The Literary Review, BOMB, The Buenos Aires Review, Flash Fiction International, and World Literature Today, where he is a contributing editor. George holds a BA in Spanish from Oklahoma University, an MA, also in Spanish, from Middlebury College, and a PhD in literary and translation studies from the University of Texas at Dallas.
ALVARO ENRIGUE was born in Mexico in 1969. He is the award-winning author of five novels and two books of short stories. In 2007, the Hay Festival’s BogotÁ39 project named him one of the most promising Latin American writers of his generation. His linked story collection Hypothermia, was published by Dalkey Archive in 2014, and his Herralde Prize-winning novel Sudden Death will be published by Riverhead in 2016. He lives in New York.
DEAR READERS,
Deep Vellum is a not-for-profit publishing house founded in 2013 with the threefold mission to publish international literature in English translation; to foster the art and craft of translation; and to build a more vibrant book culture in Dallas and beyond. We seek out works of literature that might otherwise never be published by larger publishing houses, works of lasting cultural value, and works that expand our understanding of what literature is and what it can do.
Operating as a nonprofit means that we rely on the generosity of donors, cultural organizations, and foundations to provide the basis of our operational budget. Deep Vellum has two donor levels, the LIGA DE ORO AND THE LIGA DEL SIGLO. Members at both levels provide generous donations that allow us to pursue an ambitious growth strategy to connect readers with the best works of literature and increase our understanding of the world. Members of the LIGA DE ORO AND THE LIGA DEL SIGLO receive customized benefits for their donations, including free books, invitations to special events, and named recognition in each book.
We also rely on subscriptions from readers like you to provide an invaluable ongoing investment in Deep Vellum that demonstrates a commitment to our editorial vision and mission. Subscribers are the bedrock of our support as we grow the readership for these amazing works of literature. The more subscribers we have, the more we can demonstrate to potential donors and bookstores alike the diverse support we receive and how we use it to grow our mission in ever-new, ever-innovative ways.
If you would like to get involved with Deep Vellum as a donor, subscriber, or volunteer, please contact us at deepvellum.org. We would love to hear from you.
Thank you all,
Will Evans, Publisher
LIGA DE ORO ($5,000+)
Anonymous (2)
LIGA DEL SIGLO ($1,000+)
Allred Capital Management
Ben Fountain
Judy Pollock
Loretta Siciliano
Lori Feathers
Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk & Joshua Frenk
Matthew Rittmayer
Meriwether Evans
Pixel and Texel
Nick Storch
Stephen Bullock
DONORS
Alan Shockley
Amrit Dhir
Anonymous
Andrew Yorke
Bob Appel
Bob & Katherine Penn
Brandon Childress
Brandon Kennedy
Charles Dee Mitchell
Charley Mitcherson
Cheryl Thompson
Christie Tull
Daniel J. Hale
Ed Nawotka
Grace Kenney
Greg McConeghy
JJ Italiano
Kay Cattarulla
Kelly Falconer
Linda Nell Evans
Lissa Dunlay
Mary Cline
Maynard Thomson
Michael Reklis
Mike Kaminsky
Mokhtar Ramadan
Nikki Gibson
Richard Meyer
Suejean Kim
Susan Carp
Theater Jones
Tim Perttula
SUBSCRIBERS
Adam Hetherington
Adam Rekerdres
Alan Shockley
Alexa Roman
Amber J. Appel
Andrew L
emon
Andrew Strickland
Anonymous
Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Ariel Saldivar
Balthazar Simões
Barbara Graettinger
Ben Fountain
Ben Nichols
Betsy Morrison
Bill Fisher
Bjorn Beer
Bob & Mona Ball
Bob Appel
Bob Penn
Bradford Pearson
Brandon Kennedy
Brina Palencia
Charles Dee Mitchell
Chase LaFerney
Cheryl Thompson
Chris Sweet
Christie Tull
David Hopkins
David Lowery
David Shook
David Weinberger
Dennis Humphries
Dr. Colleen Grissom
Ed Nawotka
Ed Tallent
Elisabeth Cook
Fiona Schlachter
Frank Merlino
George Henson
Gino Palencia
Grace Kenney
Greg McConeghy
Guilty Dave Bristow
Heath Dollar
Horatiu Matei
Jacob Siefring
Jacob Silverman
James Crates
Jane Watson
Jeanne Milazzo
Jeff Whittington
Jeremy Hughes
Joe Milazzo
Joel Garza
John Harvell
Joshua Edwin
Julia Pashin
Julie Janicke Muhsmann
Justin Childress
Kaleigh Emerson
Kenneth McClain
Kimberly Alexander
Lauren Shekari
Linda Nell Evans
Lisa Pon
Lissa Dunlay
Liz Ramsburg
Lytton Smith
Mac Tull
Mallory Davis
Marcia Lynx Qualey
Margaret Terwey
Mark Larson
Martha Gifford
Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk & Joshua Frenk
Meaghan Corwin
Michael Holtmann
Mike Kaminsky
Naomi Firestone-Teeter
Neal Chuang
Nicholas Kennedy
Nick Oxford
Nikki Gibson
Owen Rowe
Patrick Brown
Peter McCambridge
Regina Imburgia
Scot Roberts
Sean & Karen Fitzgerald
Shelby Vincent
Steven Norton
Susan Ernst
Taylor Zakarin
Tess Lewis
Tim Kindseth
Todd Mostrog
Tom Bowden
Tony Fleo
Will Morrison
Will Vanderhyden
Table of Contents
SERGIO PITOL, RUSSIAN BOY An introduction by Álvaro Enrigue
· INTRODUCTION
· 19 MAY
· 20 MAY
· 21 MAY
· MEYERHOLD’S LETTER
· 22 MAY
· FAMILY PORTRAIT I
· 23 MAY
· 24 MAY
· 25 MAY
· GOLDFISH
· 26 MAY
· 27 MAY
· FAMILY PORTRAIT II
· 28 MAY
· 29 MAY
· 30 MAY
· 31 MAY
· WHEN THE SOUL IS DELIRIOUS
· 2 JUNE
· FEATS OF MEMORY
· 3 JUNE
· IVÁN, THE RUSSIAN BOY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY