The art of translation is useful to a poet because it calls for the practice of the craft in the absence of inspiration for one’s own work.

It is also, in David Young’s view, a way for a poet to carry on a giant conversation with poets of other languages, times, and places.

“When I translate,” says Young, “I inhabit the other poet’s world, however briefly, and sometimes sense that I am tracking the creative process that brought the original poem into being.”

David Young’s translation of Paul Celan’s volume,
Von Schwelle zu Schwelle (1952) is now available from Marick Press.

David Young's DU FU: A LIFE IN POETRY was
published by Knopf in early November, 2008.
Below is a link to a radio interview in which he
discusses the book with Eric Tomb:

• Click here for radio interview •
• Click here for the NPR review of David Young's DU FU •
• Click here for Poetry Daily •

• Click here for Front Porch 10 review •

Languages: • Italian • Chinese • German • Czech • Spanish •