Efe Murad: “The multilingual interaction between Pound’s translation and poetry brings along a network of languages.”

Efe Murad: “The multilingual interaction between Pound’s translation and poetry brings along a network of languages.”

Samsun University Centre of Art and Thought hosted academician, poet, and translator Efe Murad, moderated by Kaan Kurt within the scope of “Öteki Buluşmalar” 2021. With his speech titled “Untranslatable Masks of Pound: Cantos in Turkish” on an online program, Murad explained his thoughts on the subject.

“Poets influenced by Pound show interesting areas of the invention of Turkish Literature.”

Efe Murad, who started her speech by giving information about Ezra Pound, said “Ezra Pound is a poet from various political backgrounds and influenced many literary figures. Look at the translations made from poems of the Pound and the original poems influenced by these texts, not only lay down a mind map of the poems in Turkey. It shows us how the interesting fields of invention and interaction of Turkish literature meet with Pound’s politics, though, and universal lyric that transcends all cultures. Pound sees the translation as a mask, a persona. ‘Persona’ means ‘mask’ in Ancient Greek. Pound thinks the translation is a mask of the original language. When the poem is translated, it changes form and personality. It takes on a new identity in the new language. Translation of translation means wearing a mask to the original text. Pound’s English in his early translations of the 13th-century medieval troubadours, namely French lyrical saz poets and bards, evokes the distant voices of folk poets and troubadours with different charms. In the coming minutes of this speech, troubadours will be an important point for us. There is a multilingual interaction between Pound’s translations and poems. This transition brings about a network between languages.”

“According to Pound, every translation wears a mask and the translation has to give personality to the text.”

Continuing his words by referring to the cantos, Murad said, “We see the translation of translation in cantos, that is, a transition between languages. The Odysseus quote in the first canto is not from the original Greek of the text, but from a translation of the first Latin Odysseus published as a book. Likewise, Pound’s translations from the Chinese poet Li Po are from Japanese. These types of translation games are one way the Pound builds a cultural language in other languages. It is the gateway to discoveries within the language. Cantos are made up of parts that do not belong to him but are directly quoted by the Pound. These parts can be free translations or word-for-word translations of the Pound. Or he can scan all written texts, such as poems, correspondence, contracts directly from foreign languages. Most of the Kanto 75 is made up of musical notes. The notation is also a written text. These quotations include rewritings or subtracted collages. According to Pound, every translation wears a mask and the translation has to give personality to the text. Otherwise, it will not be able to make his voice heard. Text translated in the new language loses its voice and disappears.”

“Trace of Pound can be found in Ülkü Tamer’s poems.”

Efe Murad continued his speech with the following words: “The first translation of Pound into Turkish is the poem ‘Gözler’, dated 1946. The translation of ‘Gözler’ belongs to Social Democratic Politician Bülent Ecevit who will then twice served as prime minister in Turkey. The Pound’s reputation is on the rise after World War Two. His relationship with fascism and his admiration for Mussolini is not enough to overshadow his reputation. His poems are carried out of his country where he was declared a traitor after World War Two. He can influence many left or right-wing poets. Ülkü Tamer is one of them, a trace of Pound can be found in his poems. Pound’s political aspects are dominant in Turkey that Ülkü Tamer complains in his poem ‘Virgül Şiir Yazıyor’ in his book ‘Virgülün Başından Geçenler’, published in 1965, that Pound is not taught as a textbook in school by right-wing conservative governments. Ülkü Tamer says this not only as a criticism of the left but as a person who loves literature and poetry.”

The speech titled ended with the active participation, questions, and contributions of the audience.