A.S. Kline's Poetry in Translation

December 6, 2012 1:18 PM

TransLAtions! Get your free lit-e-rary transLAtions here! Ya want Ovid? Ya got Ovid! Ya got all your classic French poets, your Germans, your Italians, your Russians! Ya got a verse rendering of Zorilla's Don Juan Tenorio with parallel Spanish text! Ya got a rare translation of Vazha-Pshavela's Georgian epic Host and Guest! Everything downloadable in every major format! All edited by A.S. Kline!
posted by Iridic (8 comments total)

I'm not even sure how to comment on such a trove. It's wonderful, of course. I just wish there were more originals parallel to the translations.

I didn't buy a copy of Don Juan Tenorio before I left Madrid. Now I can read it anyway!
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 1:42 PM on December 6, 2012

Aw, Virgil is no fun without the wondrous translation "hoary hairs", which kept our tiny latin class in fear of our lives, gravid as it was with spooneristic peril.
posted by Iteki at 1:46 PM on December 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

He gives good Akhmatova.
posted by Egg Shen at 1:52 PM on December 6, 2012

Kline's doing some yeoman work here. Both the quantity and the breadth of his translations are breathtaking, and he's remarkably generous to offer them all for free online in a variety of formats.

That industry, however, comes at the price of accuracy, at least in the languages that I can read. I also tend to find his translations less readable than others.
posted by dd42 at 1:52 PM on December 6, 2012

What dd42 said. Seems like a great guy, but his Mandelstam doesn't do much for me.
posted by languagehat at 3:03 PM on December 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm finding his Nerval lacks magic.
posted by Wolof at 8:20 PM on December 6, 2012

It's hard to translate from one language, let alone many, but I surely admire the scope of his work.
posted by ersatz at 4:27 AM on December 7, 2012

I agree there are some misses here, but I can't but respect his ambition and generosity.

(I'm afraid I can't recommend all his hosted translators either - particularly the fellow who's worked up the Greek tragedies. Aeschylus is many things, but he is not gabby.)
posted by Iridic at 7:33 AM on December 7, 2012