WEBVTT

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Thank you all for coming.

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First let me just check my--

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[LAUGHTER]

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It's very embarrassing to
introduce speaker and have

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your phone go off.

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That's the first most--

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The second most
embarrassing would

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be to have a speaker
up here, and have

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one of you all phones go off.

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So please check your phones.

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Geoffrey Brock is an
author of Weighing Light:

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poems, the editor of an
anthology of 20th century

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Italian poetry, and the
translator of numerous volumes

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from the Italian.

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His poems and
translations have appeared

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in journals, including Poetry,
Paris Review, and The New

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Yorker.

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And in anthologies
including Best American

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Poetry and the Pushcart Prize.

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He's received fellowships
from National Endowment

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for the Arts, the New York
Public Libraries Cullman

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Center, and the
Guggenheim Foundation.

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He was a Wallace Stegner fellow
at Stanford from 2002 to 2004.

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Brock's translations include
Cesare Pavese, Disaffections:

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Complete Poems 1930 to
1950, Roberto Calasso's K.,

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and Umberto Eco's The
Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana.

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His translations have received
many awards, including

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those from Poetry
Magazine, the ATA, the Penn

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Center, the Modern Language
Association, and the Academy

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of American Poets.

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He teaches at the MFA
Poem in creative writing

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and translation at the
University of Arkansas.

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As Tyler mentioned, I'm on the
front desk on Monday morning.

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And the last few Mondays while
at the Poetry Center front

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desk-- between phone calls,
and visitors, and tours--

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I have read
Jeffrey's translation

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of Pavese's Disaffection.

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And I discovered such new
and interesting language,

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such strange textures
and feelings.

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I was reminded of those caravans
in ancient times traveling

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from one country to another
to deliver spices and fabrics

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with tastes, and smells, and
weavings different from those

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we are accustomed to.

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And I realized I knew
the power of translation

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to expand and enrich our
understanding of language

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and bring the wealth of human
experience to new readers.

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This is what translation does.

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But we need but we
need to appreciate

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the long and arduous journey
each translation requires.

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This reading, the first
of an annual series,

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celebrates that work
and skill, celebrates

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the poetry of translation.

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Please welcome poet, translator,
and friend, Geoffrey Brock.

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[APPLAUSE]