Erica Mena

Poet | Book Artist | Translator

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Tag: Words without Borders

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AWP-Wrap

March 4, 2012 by Erica Mena

Well, it has been far far too long. I’ve been buried under my thesis (excerpts of which you can read on Words Without Borders here and here) which is inches away from being announce-ably forthcoming in full. So that’s exciting. I’ve also been printing like a madwoman, making, among other cool things, these sweet postcards for Anomalous Press to hand out at AWP and display on the lovely Iowa Review table. And wow, was AWP crazy this year. I wasn’t initially going […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Anomalous Press, awp, awp12, awp2012, conference, conference experience, conference tips, letterpress printing, literary translators, poetry, publishing, Words without Borders

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On The Eternonaut

January 12, 2012 by Erica Mena

I have a blog post up at Words Without Borders on The Eternonaut. The title is a portmanteau, combining “eter” and “astronauta.” I created a similarly constructed English portmanteau combining “eternal” and “astronaut,” changing the “a” in “eternal” for the “o” in “astro” to create the prefix “eterno,” reminiscent of “cosmonaut” also. Since the words are cognates, I could have left it as The Ethernaut, but the emphasis on the first syllable in this word seems uncomfortable in English. Naturalness in English […]

Categories: Translation • Tags: comics, el eternauta, erica mena, eternauta, graphic novel, hector oesterheld, science fiction, solano lopez, the eternonaut, translation, translator, Words without Borders

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The Eternonaut

January 5, 2012 by Erica Mena

An excerpt from The Eternonaut (the graphic novel I’ve been translating for my thesis) was just published on Words Without Borders as part of their Apocalypse themed issue. Here’s a little from my introduction to the work on the site: The Eternonaut does what science fiction can do so well, asks hard questions about the world, and wonders what we can do to change things. At the end, the comic writer wonders, is telling the story enough? Perhaps not, but then again, […]

Categories: Comics, Translation • Tags: apocalypse, comics, el eternauta, erica mena, eternauta, eternonaut, francisco solano lopez, graphic novel, hector german oesterheld, hector oesterheld, oesterheld, science fiction, solano lopez, the eternonaut, translation, Words without Borders

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The ignored island(s)

November 28, 2011 by Erica Mena

Puerto Rico has a special place in world literature: none. Or almost none. No one knows how to talk about it. It’s part of the U.S., but predominately Spanish-speaking. It’s part of Latin America, but significantly separate because of the U.S. government and economic control. Puerto Rico has been called “the oldest colony in the world.” And what happens in centuries-old colonies is a kind of hybridity and resistance that makes culture hard to categorize, and therefore harder to talk […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: caribbean literature, caribbean wriitng, Dominican Republic, erica mena, hispanic caribbean, José Mármol, literary translation, poetry, Puerto Rico, translation, Words without Borders

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Caribbean Poetry

November 22, 2011 by Erica Mena

Did I fail to mention that the new Words Without Borders (and it’s not so new anymore, but still awesome) features writing from the Caribbean and I have four poems that I translated in it? Oh, Erica… Well, it does, and I’m pretty happy with them. Two by the Dominican poet José Mármol, one by the Dominican poet Aurora Arias, and one by the Puerto Rican poet José María Lima. You can read them here.

Categories: Poetry, Translation • Tags: Aurora Arias, caribbean poetry, erica mena, José María Lima, José Mármol, poetry, translation, Words without Borders

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Strategies of translation, translation as strategy

June 8, 2011 by Erica Mena

Strategies of translation Last class we talked about Robert Bly’s “Eight Stages of Translation” in which he somewhat artificially maps out eight things a translator must (or should) do in translating. Briefly, they are: 1. Create a literal version (a trot) 2. Read closely for deep meaning 3. Turn the literal into English 4. Turn it into spoken English 5. Focus on the tone and mood 6. Focus on the sound, meter, rhythm, rhyme 7. Have it read by someone […]

Categories: Teaching, Translation • Tags: Lawrence Venuti, read translation, review translation, Robert Bly, teach translation, teaching, translation, translation as art, Words without Borders

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Bolaño – A stranger

March 15, 2010 by Erica Mena

Since I won’t have the chance to publish my full translation of Roberto Bolaño’s poem “Tales of the Autumn in Gerona“, which also means I won’t get a forum to talk about the various choices I made, I thought I’d talk a bit about it here. It may be interesting, or it may be self-indulgent. We’ll see. The first section of this poem was actually somewhat problematic. It sets the tone and introduces the ‘characters’ that will appear and reappear […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Bolaño, poetry, translation, Words without Borders

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New Reading the World – Organizational Principles

March 9, 2010 by Erica Mena

Just a quick note during the craziness of my week-before-spring-break to say that the second episode of Reading the World Podcast is up on ITunes! In this one Chad Post and I talk to Susan Harris, Editor of Words Without Borders, about teaching translation and organizational principles. It was a great conversation!!

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: Chad Post, Reading the World, Susan Harris, Words without Borders

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Flash Fiction vs. Prose Poetry

January 7, 2010 by Erica Mena

I’m sure someone out there knows the difference, but it’s not me. For a few years now, since translating a remarkable book of prose poems, I’ve been fascinated with the genre and it’s history. The excellent White Pine anthology The House of Your Dream has kept me occupied with prose poems from around the world and I’ve even begun experimenting with my own compositions in the form. In my list-of-classes-I-someday-want-to-teach (along with a class on the defense of poetry) is […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: fiction, flash fiction, poetry, prose poetry, translation, White Pine, Words without Borders

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