November 2008
This month we present writings on the ultimate act of translation: immigration. Writers cross borders both linguistic and cultural, grappling with language and puzzling out customs to arrive at identities both familiar and foreign. From the Amazon to Addis Ababa, fleeing persecution or seeking prosperity, these writers reinvent themselves and the notion of homeland as well. Open your doors to Yehuda Amichai, Alexei Bayer, Paul Celan, Alexander Cuadros, Lidija Dimkovska, Gabriella Ghermandi, Milton Hatoum, Amara Lakhous, Suzanne Ruta, Saša Stanišić, and Sebastiano Vassalli, and welcome these new literary arrivals.
An Exchange on Nation and Exile
Paul Celan and Yehuda Amichai on fatherland and mother tongues
Translated by John Felstiner
A poet cannot stop writing.
Scheherazade, C’est Moi? An Interview with Amara Lakhous
Suzanne Ruta talks Italy and immigration with Amara Lakhous
Translated by Suzanne Ruta
Novels can contain a whole society.
The Truth According to Parviz Mansoor Samadi
In Rome, Amara Lakhous’s desperate Persian cook literally shuts his mouth
Translated by Ann Goldstein
I’m a refugee, not an immigrant.
Brazilian Arabesques
Milton Hatoum on Arabs in the Amazon
Translated by Clifford Landers
We can choose a new cultural homeland without disdaining our origin.
Out of Sight
From Bogotá, Alexander Cuadros reports on casualties of the internal war
They are on the run here even when standing still.
Ballad of Aunt Else's Refugees
Lidija Dimkovska serenades the displaced and their protectors
Translated by Ljubica Arsovska and Peggy Reid
A refugee once is without escape forever.
Translating to and From a Native Language
Alexei Bayer dissects language with a foreign implement
My first English word was KNIFE.
Sebastiano
Sebastiano Vassalli finds no good deed goes unpunished
Translated by Gregory Conti
Now, finally, I know what it’s all about.
Three Myths of Immigrant Writing: A View from Germany
Saša Stanišić knows the first thing about second-language writing
Translated by Saša Stanišić
A language is the only country without borders.
Music, Maestro Berenson, and Yours Truly
Julio Ramón Ribeyro’s master conducts his own decline
Translated by Katherine Silver
Only those who have known splendor have a right to decadence.
Fragments from the Dollmaker's Life
Danila Davydov toys with a craftsman
Translated by Peter Golub
He feels himself a marionette.
For Years
Zafer Köse embraces brotherly love
Translated by Candan Baysan
I don’t think he understood me, either.
Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar 
Reviewed by Tsipi Keller
The first English translation of a classic novella of war.
On a Day Like This by Peter Stamm 
Reviewed by Robert Buckley
What might have been is the dream we cannot relinquish.