“[He] was regarded by many as the finest stage designer of his generation … The reason for this lies in what Hayden himself said in an interview in 1983: ‘Theatre is about a man or a woman saying the line. The designer’s job is to decide what the audience should see when that line is said’.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Finnegans Wake Is A Hit In China
Translator Dai Congrong spent eight years struggling to render in Chinese sentences like “Rot a peck of pa’s malt had Jhem or Shen brewed by arclight and rory end to the regginbrow was to be seen ringsome on the aquaface.” Amazingly, “her translation of the first part of the book has become a modest but clear hit here in China.”
Translations May Give Us Only Part Of The Work, But Even That Is Good
American-born, Amsterdam-based author and translator Sam Garrett talks about how much a reader can absorb about another nation’s culture through a well-translated piece of literature.
Is This A Korean Counterpart To Girl With A Pearl Earring?
Peter Paul Rubens’s 1617 drawing titled Man in Korean Costume (now in the Getty’s collection) may not be well-known in the US, but in South Korea two books have been inspired by the sketch: a 1993 historical novel that became a bestseller and a 2004 work of history by a Jesuit scholar.
Homophobic Egyptian Protest Mural Transformed With a Pro-Gay Message
A mural on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in Cairo tried to insult the city’s police (widely criticized for using excessive force on demonstrators) by showing two officers kissing and the words “Cops are Gays” in English above their heads. Well, the text on the painting has changed …
Doctor Who Embodies Post-Imperial Britain
“In many ways, the show carried on the themes of Victorian youth literature: the Doctor is a fearless traveler; he encounters strange cultures and lands; he is stoic, sophisticated, and not without a few eccentricities. … By aligning the show with trends in Western international relations, the audience is able to enjoy the continuation of imperial literature without any of the unsavory political undertones. It’s as if Cecil Rhodes joined the Peace Corps and donated his salary to UNESCO.”
Casanova Tells All, At Last: New, Uncut Version Of His Memoirs Published
The new edition of Histoire de ma vie, the first based on the original manuscript, reveals Casanova to be a more complex and sympathetic character than the love-her-and-leave-her Lothario of popular imagination.
There’s A Difference Between Camp and Campiness
With the help of Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame, J. Bryan Lowder tries to clear up the confusion, which he traces to Susan Sontag.
Where Exactly Does Camp Reside? In Nuance
“[Roland] Barthes, the French writer, philosopher, and academic best known for his work in semiotics, turns out to be the most advanced – or, more appropriately, nuanced – analyst of camp who has ever lived, at least if you read him my way.”
Archaeologists Locate The Gates Of Hell
“Known as Pluto’s Gate – Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin – the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition. Historic sources located the site in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, now called Pamukkale, and described the opening as filled with lethal mephitic vapors.”