Daniel Bourne
Encyclopedia
Daniel Bourne is a poet, translator of poetry
from Polish, editor, and professor of English
at The College of Wooster in Wooster
, Ohio
, where he has taught since 1988. He teaches Creative Writing
and poetry. He attended Indiana University (Bloomington) where he received his B.A.
in Comparative Literature
and History
in 1979, and an M.F.A. in Creative writing in 1987. Bourne is the editor and founder of the Artful Dodge
literary magazine which focuses on fiction of place as well as translations, and has been praised for its publication of polish poets in translation. He lives outside Wooster with his wife Margret and his son Carter.
, Indiana Review
, Salmagundi
, Shenandoah
, The Journal
, and North American Review
. His poetry has also been widely anthologized.
In the award citation for the 2003 Edges Prize, won by Bourne for Where No One Spoke the Language, poet Carolyne Wright
praises Bourne for his ability to "make the strange familiar," writing that "Bourne speaks, across borders of linguistic and national difference, a profoundly human language for us all." This collection "is worldly in the best sense: drawing on the author's extensive time in Poland, the poems meditate on history and cross-cultural perspectives. With intellectual depth and range, Bourne's poems bring the reader into a larger consciousness about our place on the earth."
The poet, William Heyen
, writes, "What Daniel Bourne has done here is something I haven't heard done yet--Charles Simic's surreal mode grounded, but with Simic's knowledge of Eastern Europe. Remarkable and relentless, Where No One Spoke the Language achieves a voice of exile deeper than any I've heard from an American poet since The Waste Land
." Indeed, before its publication, Where No One Spoke the Language was a finalist for the T.S. Eliot prize in poetry in 2003.
Bourne's poetry has been translated into Polish and Hungarian. In Hungary
, it appeared in Magyar Napló, the official literary magazine of the Hungarian Writers' Union. In Poland
, it appeared in Odra
and Topos
. His poem "Vigilia" and the title poem of his book, "Where No One Spoke the Language," were published under the pseudonym Jerzy Sarna in the illegal underground literary journal, Obecnosc, during martial law
.
which states, "Bourne strikes a careful middle ground between the rewrite and negative capability. And I think that is because he is no armchair translator, but a poet himself, who lived through the world described in Jastrun's poems. He was living in Warsaw during martial law, sneaking about to meet with various poets and writers and visual artists." Indeed, Bourne was in Poland during the Summer of 1980 and the rise of Solidarity--the shipyard strikes that soon took over the entire country and resulted in the Workers Accord being signed between Solidarity and the Polish government creating the first independent trade unions in the Eastern Bloc
. He later returned to Poland for a year during the period of martial law, and then for two more years in 1985-87 on a Fulbright fellowship for the translation of younger Polish poets. In The Polish Review, of On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe, it is commented that "Many of the poems read as English originals and have little of the awkwardness seen in some translated verse."
Bourne is considered an important translator of Polish poetry during the last decade of Communism
and into the post-communist era, having also translated the poetry of Jan Polkowski and Krystyna Lars as well as being the editor of the section on Polish writing for Shifting Borders, an anthology of Eastern European poetry published in 1993.
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
from Polish, editor, and professor of English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
at The College of Wooster in Wooster
Wooster, Ohio
Wooster is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Wayne County. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio approximately SSW of Cleveland and SW of Akron. Wooster is noted as the location of The College of Wooster...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, where he has taught since 1988. He teaches Creative Writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
and poetry. He attended Indiana University (Bloomington) where he received his B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Comparative Literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
and History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in 1979, and an M.F.A. in Creative writing in 1987. Bourne is the editor and founder of the Artful Dodge
Artful Dodge
The Artful Dodge is a literary magazine based in Wooster, Ohio at the College of Wooster. Founded by Daniel Bourne in 1979 in Bloomington, Indiana, the magazine has progressed from a flimsy pamphlet of carbon copies to a professionally produced literary magazine which won Bourne the Ohioana...
literary magazine which focuses on fiction of place as well as translations, and has been praised for its publication of polish poets in translation. He lives outside Wooster with his wife Margret and his son Carter.
Poetry
Bourne's poetry has been published in American Poetry Review, PloughsharesPloughshares
Ploughshares is an American literary magazine founded in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, Ploughshares has been based at Emerson College in the heart of Boston...
, Indiana Review
Indiana Review
Indiana Review ' is a small, student-run literary magazine at Indiana University. Founded in 1976, it has a circulation of about 2,000.A biannual review, IR publishes essays, fiction, graphic arts, interviews, poetry, and reviews...
, Salmagundi
Salmagundi
Salmagundi is a salad dish, originating in the early 17th century in England, comprising cooked meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, leaves, nuts and flowers and dressed with oil, vinegar and spices. There is some debate over the meaning and origin of the word...
, Shenandoah
Shenandoah (magazine)
Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee Review is a major literary magazine published by Washington and Lee University.- History :Originally a student-run quarterly, Shenandoah has evolved into a triannual literary journal edited by author R. T...
, The Journal
The Journal
The Journal was a popular current affairs newsmagazine on CBC Television from 1982 to 1992. It aired weeknights at 10:22 pm, following The National at 10:00 pm, and expanding on stories presented on there with in-depth interviews, documentaries, and televised "town hall" meetings...
, and North American Review
North American Review
The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...
. His poetry has also been widely anthologized.
In the award citation for the 2003 Edges Prize, won by Bourne for Where No One Spoke the Language, poet Carolyne Wright
Carolyne Wright
-Life:She studied at Seattle University, New York University, and graduated from Syracuse University with master's and doctoral degrees.She has held visiting creative writing posts at Radcliffe College, Sweet Briar College, Emory University, University of Wyoming, University of Miami, Oklahoma...
praises Bourne for his ability to "make the strange familiar," writing that "Bourne speaks, across borders of linguistic and national difference, a profoundly human language for us all." This collection "is worldly in the best sense: drawing on the author's extensive time in Poland, the poems meditate on history and cross-cultural perspectives. With intellectual depth and range, Bourne's poems bring the reader into a larger consciousness about our place on the earth."
The poet, William Heyen
William Heyen
William Helmuth Heyen is an American poet, editor, and literary critic. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Suffolk County...
, writes, "What Daniel Bourne has done here is something I haven't heard done yet--Charles Simic's surreal mode grounded, but with Simic's knowledge of Eastern Europe. Remarkable and relentless, Where No One Spoke the Language achieves a voice of exile deeper than any I've heard from an American poet since The Waste Land
The Waste Land
The Waste Land[A] is a 434-line[B] modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its...
." Indeed, before its publication, Where No One Spoke the Language was a finalist for the T.S. Eliot prize in poetry in 2003.
Bourne's poetry has been translated into Polish and Hungarian. In Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, it appeared in Magyar Napló, the official literary magazine of the Hungarian Writers' Union. In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, it appeared in Odra
Odra
Odra may refer to:* Oder, a river in Czech Republic, Poland and Germany* Odra , a computer once made in Poland* Name of several Polish football clubs, e.g...
and Topos
Topos
In mathematics, a topos is a type of category that behaves like the category of sheaves of sets on a topological space...
. His poem "Vigilia" and the title poem of his book, "Where No One Spoke the Language," were published under the pseudonym Jerzy Sarna in the illegal underground literary journal, Obecnosc, during martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
.
Translations
Bourne is well regarded for his translations of contemporary Polish poetry, notably his translations of Bronislaw Maj, and of On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe and other works by Polish poet Tomasz Jastrun. This collection is praised by the Sarmatian ReviewSarmatian Review
Sarmatian Review is an English language peer reviewed academic journal on the Slavistics published by Polish Institute of Houston at Rice University three times a year in January, April, and September...
which states, "Bourne strikes a careful middle ground between the rewrite and negative capability. And I think that is because he is no armchair translator, but a poet himself, who lived through the world described in Jastrun's poems. He was living in Warsaw during martial law, sneaking about to meet with various poets and writers and visual artists." Indeed, Bourne was in Poland during the Summer of 1980 and the rise of Solidarity--the shipyard strikes that soon took over the entire country and resulted in the Workers Accord being signed between Solidarity and the Polish government creating the first independent trade unions in the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
. He later returned to Poland for a year during the period of martial law, and then for two more years in 1985-87 on a Fulbright fellowship for the translation of younger Polish poets. In The Polish Review, of On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe, it is commented that "Many of the poems read as English originals and have little of the awkwardness seen in some translated verse."
Bourne is considered an important translator of Polish poetry during the last decade of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
and into the post-communist era, having also translated the poetry of Jan Polkowski and Krystyna Lars as well as being the editor of the section on Polish writing for Shifting Borders, an anthology of Eastern European poetry published in 1993.
Books
- Where No One Spoke The Language, Custom Words Press, 2006
- The Household Gods, Cleveland State University Press, 1995
- Boys Who Go Aloft, a poetry chapbook published by Sparrow Press in 1987
Notable translations
- Here At The End of My Hands, by Bronislaw Maj
- On the Crossroads of Asia and Europe, a collection of translations of Polish poetry and essayist Tomasz Jastrun, Salmon RunSalmon runThe salmon run is the time at which salmon swim back up the rivers in which they were born to spawn. All Pacific salmon die after spawning. While most Atlantic salmon die after their first spawn, about 5-10% return to the sea to feed between spawnings. The annual run is a major event for sport...
.