The artists’ association “Orbita” has just released the collection “Snow” by the Japanese poet Mari Konno. The collection actualizes the traditional Japanese poetry genre, however, it has been more important than form to preserve the imagery of Mari Konno.
Mari Konno was inspired by the collection in 2008 when she saw the tapestry “Communication” by Latvian textile artist Baiba Rītere (this work also decorates the book covers). After all, the book was published in four languages - Japanese, English, Latvian and Russian. Translations were made by poets and poets – Amelia Fielden (in English), Edvīns Raups (in Latvian), Sergejs Timofejevs and Aleksandrs Zapoļs (in Russian). The compiler and editor of the book (for translations into Latvian and English) is the poet, poet Ivars Šteinbergs.
The publishers of the collection say that it brings the reader into the world of the traditional Japanese genre – tanks. Asked to be reminded of what a tank is, Ivars Šteinbergs tells in the Latvian Radio program “Kultūras Rondo”: “Tanka is a poem of five lines, where there are five syllables in the first and third lines, but seven in the other lines. [..] In the 20th century, the tank has spread all over the world. Various examples have also appeared here in Latvian literature.
In the latest contemporary literature, as far as I know, no one writes about tanks. Accordingly, the collection “Snow” is interesting in that this genre of poetry is updated again in the Latvian language. ”
Steinberg adds that the translators did not pay attention to the number of syllables, but this was only good for the translations, because the focus was not on developing the shape of the tank, but on highlighting the imagery of Mari Konno.
Mari Konno tank collection “Snow”.
Photo: Publicity image
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As the editor of the collection, Ivars Šteinbergs has not only worked on the nuances of Latvian and English language reflections, but also tried to clean the book from unnecessary “noises”. He explains: “I took the texts out of the book, invited Mari Konno to consider throwing something away. The book is already full of different types of texts. The author told me that it is a tradition to add a contextualizing phrase to the tank, which explains in what situation it was written or what it was written about. The first manuscript also contained two other cycles of poetry, an essay, and more vague explanatory texts. I thought it was my job to take it outside and try to clean it up somehow. ” In the process of preparing the collection, communication with the authors took place electronically. The editor notes that the poetess Mari Konno has been very responsive and interested in cooperation.
Steinbergs says about the collection “Snow” that it is not so much about the relations between two cultures, about people in Latvia or Japan, but about people in the wider world, about our relations with nature and climate.
At the same time, he assesses that the Japanese Mari Konno, like Latvians, has experience in what it means to live with a dark history (wars, disasters, etc.). The name of the Japanese poet is already known in Latvia – she has chilled fragments of Edvards Virza’s “Straumēni” in Japanese and participated twice in Poetry Days – in 2010 and 2013.
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