Editor's Note

Wedged between sky and sea is the thin line we all know as the horizon, ever-present in Brazilian explorer Amyr Klink’s nail-biting account of survival in shark-infested waters—just one of many new works from this Rubik’s Cube-like Summer edition. Though this particular horizon is “defined” against a clear sky on the day of Klink’s wondrous salvation, the same line is also “dun-colored” in Ecuadorian author Solange Rodríguez Pappe’s profound fiction; “lacerated” in frequent contributor Habib Tengour’s Homer-inspired sequences; mottled with “dung heaps” in Nobel laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez’s poetry; or simply a vortex toward which the ocean ebbs in award-winning short story writer Nukila Amal’s description of the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. Within the same Indonesian Feature, organized in partnership with the Lontar Foundation, Rio Johan’s brilliantly inventive “Fruit Maps”—about a drunk bioengineer!—finds a thoughtful echo in Nicole Wong’s Brave New World Literature entry invoking terroir and fruit to further problematize the mediating role of translation in world literature beyond mere tropes of “domestication” or “foreignization.” In Romanian playwright Tatiana Niculescu’s laugh-out-loud drama, on the other hand, it’s one particular foreigner with a very specific request who gives a museum guide grief; the museum is also the setting for Chapman Caddell’s thrilling review of Argentinian novelist César Aira’s latest “flight-forward” creation. All of this is illustrated by Singapore-based guest artist Eunice Oh, whose stunning photography graces our cover.

Since the ongoing support of cultural institutions—or, in Asymptote’s case, lack thereof—makes a huge difference in what translator David Williams has wryly compared to the Olympics for being essentially a pay-for-play arena, we return to an interview series initiated two years ago and hear from four more fearless advocates who “work more backstage than onstage” to catalyze the transmission of their national literatures: Susanne Bergström Larsson from the Swedish Arts Council, Wenona Byrne from Creative Australia, Marieke Roels from Flanders Literature, and Shun Inoue from the Japan Foundation, the last sharing the same enthusiasm for manga as our Visual section’s Alexa Frank. “Because literature is such a powerful medium with which to explore the human condition and connect with one another,” Inoue says, “we must continue to look outward, not inward.” Hear, hear. 

While we take some time off our issues to regroup and plan for a double milestone in January 2024 (the edition after this will mark both our 50th issue and 13th anniversary!), we hope you’ll join us in looking outward: apart from subscribing to our newsletter and international Book Club, following us in our daily blog, on Facebook, Twitter, our two Instagram feeds, and our newly launched Threads account, we invite you to come on board behind the scenes (apply by Aug 1st) or submit your own translations—who knows? you might share the same fate as contributor Anton Hur, double 2022 International Booker Prize longlistee and, as of eleven days ago, translator of BTS! Finally, if the work we do has similarly changed your life for the better, please consider advertising on our platforms, partnering with us on a Special Feature, or signing up as a sustaining or masthead member.

A toast to horizons in all their myriad forms—especially those that broaden perpetually!

—Lee Yew Leong, Editor-in-Chief



Editorial Team for Issue July 2023

Editor-in-Chief: Lee Yew Leong (Taiwan/Singapore)

Assistant Managing Editors: Daljinder Johal (UK/India), Marina Dora Martino (Italy), Janet Phillips (UK/Australia), Laurel Taylor (USA), and Michal Zechariah (USA)

Section Editors:
Lee Yew Leong (Taiwan/Singapore)
Barbara Halla (Albania)
Caridad Svich (USA/UK)
Ian Ross Singleton (USA)
Heather Green (USA)

Senior Assistant Editor: Alex Tan (Singapore)

Assistant Editors: M.L. Martin (Canada), Matt Turner (USA), Megan Sungyoon (South Korea), Michelle Chan Schmidt (Ireland), Rachel Landau (USA), Rachel Rankin (UK), Terézia Klasová (Czech Republic), Tyler Candelora (USA), and Lin Chia-Wei (Taiwan)

Contributing Editors: Ellen Elias-Bursac (USA), Aamer Hussein (UK), Sim Yee Chiang (Singapore), Dylan Suher (USA), and Adrian West (USA)

Art Director: Lee Yew Leong (Taiwan/Singapore)

Editor-at-large, Armenia: Kristina Tartarian
Editor-at-large, Bulgaria: Andriana Hamas
Editor-at-large, China: Jiaoyang Li
Editor-at-large, Croatia: Kristina Gadze
Editors-at-large, Guatemala: José García Escobar and Rubén Lopéz
Editor-at-large, Hong Kong: Charlie Ng Chak-Kwan
Editors-at-large, India: Areeb Ahmad and Zohra Salih
Editor-at-large, Kenya: Wambua Muindi
Editor-at-large, North Macedonia: Sofija Popovska
Editor-at-large, Mexico: Alan Mendoza Sosa
Editor-at-large, Palestine: Carol Khoury
Editor-at-large, Philippines: Alton Melvar M. Dapanas
Editor-at-large, Romania and Moldova: MARGENTO
Editor-at-Large, Spain: Marina García Pardavilla
Editor-at-large, Sweden: Eva Wissting
Editor-at-large, Uzbekistan: Filip Noubel
Editor-at-large, Vietnamese Diaspora: Thuy Dinh


Masthead for Issue July 2023

Fiction, Poetry, Brave New World Literature Feature, Indonesian Feature, and Interview: Lee Yew Leong
Nonfiction: Ian Ross Singleton
Drama: Caridad Svich
Visual: Heather Green
Criticism: Barbara Halla
Illustrations and Cover: Eunice Oh

Assistant Managing Editor (supervising issue production): Janet Phillips

Assistant Managing Editors (supervising Assistant Editors): Laurel Taylor and Marina Martino

Assistant Managing Editors (supervising Editors-at-large): Daljinder Johal and Michal Zechariah

Chief Executive Assistant: Rachel Farmer

Senior Executive Assistants: Julie Shi, Iona Tait, and Chinmay Rastogi

Executive Assistants: Heloisa Selles and Meenakshi Ajit

Blog Editors: Xiao Yue Shan, Bella Creel, and Meghan Racklin

Newsletter Editor: Cody Siler

Art Director: Lee Yew Leong

Guest Artist Liaison: Berny Tan

Senior Copy Editors: Cecilia Weddell, Mia Manns, Rachel Stanyon, Maggie Wang, and Janet Phillips

Copy Editors: Andrea Blatz, Bella Bosworth, Ellen Sprague, Iona Tait, Liam Sprod, Matilde Ribeiro, and Matthew Redman

Technical Manager: József Szabó

Director of Outreach: Georgina Fooks

Assistant Director of Outreach: Catherine Xinxin Yu

English Social Media: Annilee Newton, Livia Djelani, Ruwa Alhayek, and Samantha Mateo

Spanish Social Media: Sergio Serrano and Victor Quevedo

French Social Media: Filip Noubel

Graphic Designer: Michael Laungjessadakun

Digital Editors: Bridget Peak and Matthew Redman

Marketing Managers: Kate Lofthouse and Samantha Seifert 

Business Developer: Daniel Naman

Director, Educational Arm: Sarah Nasar

Educational Arm Assistants: Irmak Ertuna, Mary Hillis, Thirangie Jayatilake, and Anna Rumsby

Book Club Manager: Carol Khoury

Asymptote would like to acknowledge the support of the Lontar Foundation, John McGlynn, Maya Osborne, Lise Broen Rosenberg Dahm, Jake Levine, Homa Mojadidi, and Ute Zörbach.

For their generous donations this past quarter, our heartfelt thanks go too to Alexander Dickow, Chris Nank, Claire Hegarty, Daniel Hahn, Elizabeth RAible, Ian Chung,Jeffrey Boyle, Jenna Colozza, Jim Peak, Katarzyna Bartoszynska, Katie Boynton, Laura Green, Lynn O'Neal, Marcelene Isaacson, MARGENTO, Marjolijn de Jager, Mark Cohen, Martin Ingebrigtsen, Matthew Mazowita, Monty Reid, Phuong Anh, Sharon Wood, Thomas Carroll, Ulf Jacobsen, Velina Manolova, and William Cadwallader.

Back

Fiction

Solange Rodríguez Pappe, The Sea Bed

Translated from the Spanish by Victor Meadowcroft

Without intending to, she had entered the sea of night.

Enrico Remmert, from The War of the Murazzi

Translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri

the only reason some things come back is because the river has never stopped running

Heejoo Lee, from Phantom Limb Pain

Translated from the Korean by Yoojung Chun

I learned for the first time that so much time stretching out into infinity is a painful thing to bear.

Kirsten Hammann, from The Georg Complex

Translated from the Danish by Michael Favala Goldman

He would never have married her if he knew she was going to write a novel.

Ulrike Draesner, from Schwitters

Translated from the German by Sharon Howe

In this bare mountain landscape, human beings were such a rarity that everyone counted as a neighbour.

Poetry

Salvador Espriu, from The Book of Sinera

Translated from the Catalan by Sonia Alland and Richard Jeffrey Newman

I’ve given my life for the difficult gain
of a few bare words.

Muḥammad al-Māghūṭ, Three Poems

Translated from the Arabic by Nina Youkhanna and Elliott Colla

What do I do with my life?
With those years that swell before me,
Like the sea before the pelican?

Juan Ramón Jiménez, Three Poems

Translated from the Spanish by Wally Swist

how real our candle is, beside the dream
of doubts about the others.

Diana Garza Islas, from Black Box Named Like to Me

Translated from the Spanish by Cal Paule

If your voice were a centimeter farther, it would exist.

Mateo Díaz Choza, from precipitations

Translated from the Spanish by Lowry Pressly

I built . . .
a roof of words
pitched against the storm of the actual

Tomas Venclova, Three Poems

Translated from the Lithuanian by Rimas Uzgiris

even when
time erases all shape and gesture, like an experienced
censor, from the sheet of paper, the photo, and the text.

Zang Di, from The Loquat Boy: Elegies for my Son

Translated from the Chinese by Eleanor Goodman

your tiny touch was a caress of passing years

Habib Tengour, from Women of The Odyssey

Translated from the French by Teresa Villa-Ignacio

Later with his guests                he recalls that
time when he wandered

Hermann Burger, Two Poems

Translated from the German by Daniele Pantano

The toys lay dead . . . in the velvety casket
   A tin wind-up bird, unwound, spent coil by coil.

Ghazal Mosadeq, from Andarzname

Translated from the Persian by Khashayar Kess Mohammadi

I can’t tell if the picture I’m seeing in the magazine is a day shrouded by smog
or a facet of a ship, wrecked at the hands of the sadistic, turbulent Sea

Criticism

Anonymous, The Owl and the Nightingale

Translated from the Middle English by Simon Armitage

A review by Denis Ferhatović

Armitage masterfully reveals the presence of multiple Englishes historically and in our time, of stylistic registers jostling and clashing.

Andrea Abreu, Dogs of Summer

Translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches

A review by Eliza Browning

Dogs of Summer is a rare depiction of the eroticism of queer girlhood, one that veers between flourishing sexuality and the intensity of childhood friendship.

Han Kang, Greek Lessons

Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won

A review by Clara Hillis

Language is like an arrow that always misses its target by a narrow margin, and is also something that delivers emotions and sensations that are capable of inflicting pain.

César Aira, Fulgentius

Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews

A review by Chapman Caddell

What distinguishes Aira from conventional writers is an appetite for experiment paired with careful attention to the small, irregular movements of a fantastical inner life.

Anna Seghers, The Dead Girls’ Class Trip

Translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo

A review by George MacBeth

No visible harm has come to me so far except that the miserable state of the world happened to coincide with my youth.

Nonfiction

Amyr Klink, from One Hundred Days Between Sky and Sea

Translated from the Portuguese by Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren

A shark’s rough skin was rubbing against the bottom, making a startling sandpaper noise.

Vasyl Makhno, Green Dog Days

Translated from the Ukrainian by Ali Kinsella

The days have been counted, the suitcases packed, the poems read.

Anton Filatov, Finding Myself at War

Translated from the Ukrainian by Patricia Dubrava

One of these aphorisms I often remember, when I find myself in the war: “Without love, life flies by in vain.” 

Apyang Imiq, Number 1

Translated from the Chinese by brenda Lin

What was Number 1 thinking about the few seconds before his life flowed out of him?

Drama

Claude Gauvreau, from The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac

Translated from the French by Ray Ellenwood, with translation note by Adam Seelig

Joust with the damitall! Absolve the methylene! Ah! could it be that flesh is desiccating!

Tatiana Niculescu, from Brancusi v. United States

Translated from the Romanian by Amanda L. Andrei and Codin Andrei

I’ve heard of foreigners with all sorts of strange habits, but . . . sleeping in a museum!?

Visual

Alexa Frank, Translating Manga

Brave New World Literature

Nicole Wong, The Terroir of a Single Work: Redefining Scope in Approaches to Translation

Every writer brings a unique foreignness to her work.

Indonesian Literature Feature

Rio Johan, Fruit Maps

Translated from the Indonesian by Lara Norgaard

“We want blueprints, we want empirical formulas, we want numbers, consistency, and quality! This—what even is this? An old treasure map? Fruit constellations?”

Suwardi Endraswara, Flies

Translated from the Javanese by George Quinn

Back came the flies. Thousands of them, all fighting for a place on Pak Tunjung’s lips.

Nirwan Dewanto, Three Poems

Translated from the Indonesian by John H. McGlynn

I have embraced all the oceans and all ships are still on the way to you.

Raudal Tanjung Banua, Ben Anderson’s Final Message to a Street Musician in Jogja

Translated from the Indonesian by Dalih Sembiring

We’re a wishing well away from our next meet, om.

Andina Dwifatma, from Quieter Than a Whisper

Translated from the Indonesian by Jessica Jemalem Ginting

Think of the poor child who would have to call me their mother.

Nukila Amal, Manifestations of Water

Translated from the Indonesian by Toni Pollard

Drops of water combine to enlarge themselves. Water flowing from Sumatra to Java and on to wherever, covering distances at a slow pace, manifesting in all its colors and forms.

Institutional Advocates Take Questions

An Interview with Marieke Roels from Flanders Literature

If we want a literary landscape in which there is more room for literature that has been crowded out by dominant languages, the whole book chain—from reader to publisher—must seek to make it happen.

An Interview with Shun Inoue from the Japan Foundation

Because literature is such a powerful medium with which to explore the human condition and connect with one another, we must continue to look outward, not inward.

An Interview with Wenona Byrne from Creative Australia

We have an incredibly diverse population with 30% of Australians born overseas and more than one fifth of whom speak a language other than English at home, yet our literary culture has yet to reflect that in the books that are published by the industry.

An Interview with Susanne Bergström Larsson from the Swedish Arts Council

In order to save ourselves and the world, we need to understand each other, to widen our own horizons, to become world citizens in a proper sense.