Richard Sieburth
Encyclopedia
Richard Sieburth is a translator, essayist, editor
, and literary scholar. He has gained widespread recognition for his numerous translations from both German and French literature, receiving a number of awards and prizes for his work. Sieburth is considered an authority on literary modernism
, particularly the life and work of Ezra Pound
. He has taught at many institutions of higher learning, serving as a professor of French
and comparative literature
at New York University
.
Sieburth is the author of numerous works including Instigations: Ezra Pound and Remy de Gourmont (1978) and (as an editor) A Walking Tour in Southern France: Ezra Pound Among the Troubadours (1992).
(B.A. 1970) and Harvard University
(Ph.D. 1976). Today he is recognized as a leading translator from both German and French, including the following:
Sieburth has also translated the poetry of well-known American poets into French, including selections from Michael Palmer
's Sun (1988). In addition, he has edited many important volumes including a recent edition of Ezra Pound's Pisan Cantos, "Poems & Translations" and "New Selected Poems and Translations".
His English edition of the Nerval won the 2000 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize
. His recent translation of Maurice Scève
’s Délie was a finalist for the PEN
Translation Prize and the Weidenfeld Prize.
In February 2008, Sieburth's translation of Antonin Artaud
's play The Cenci (itself an adaptation of Shelley
's The Cenci
and a novella by Stendhal
) was performed, opening at The Ohio Theatre in New York City on February 7 with daily showings through February 23.
Translations
Authored books
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
, and literary scholar. He has gained widespread recognition for his numerous translations from both German and French literature, receiving a number of awards and prizes for his work. Sieburth is considered an authority on literary modernism
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
, particularly the life and work of Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
. He has taught at many institutions of higher learning, serving as a professor of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and comparative literature
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
.
Sieburth is the author of numerous works including Instigations: Ezra Pound and Remy de Gourmont (1978) and (as an editor) A Walking Tour in Southern France: Ezra Pound Among the Troubadours (1992).
Life and Work
Richard Sieburth is a graduate of the University of ChicagoUniversity of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
(B.A. 1970) and Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(Ph.D. 1976). Today he is recognized as a leading translator from both German and French, including the following:
- Georg BuchnerGeorg BüchnerKarl Georg Büchner was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose. He was the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner. Büchner's talent is generally held in great esteem in Germany...
's Lenz ( see Wikipedia article: Lenz (fragment)Lenz (fragment)Lenz is a novella fragment written by Georg Büchner in Strasbourg in 1836. It is based on the documentary evidence of Jean Frédéric Oberlin's diary. Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, a friend of Goethe, is the subject of the story. In March 1776 he met Goethe in Weimar. Later he suffered from mental...
) - Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
’s Hymns and Fragments, - Walter BenjaminWalter BenjaminWalter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German-Jewish intellectual, who functioned variously as a literary critic, philosopher, sociologist, translator, radio broadcaster and essayist...
’s Moscow Diary - Gérard de NervalGérard de NervalGérard de Nerval was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, one of the most essentially Romantic French poets.- Biography :...
’s Selected Writings and "Salt Smugglers" - Henri MichauxHenri MichauxHenri Michaux was a highly idiosyncratic Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter who wrote in French. He later took French citizenship. Michaux is best known for his esoteric books written in a highly accessible style, and his body of work includes poetry, travelogues, and art criticism...
’s Emergences/Resurgences & Stroke by Stroke - Michel LeirisMichel LeirisJulien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
’s Nights as Day, Days as Night - Gershom Sholem's The Fullness of Time: Poems
- Maurice ScèveMaurice ScèveMaurice Scève , French poet, was born at Lyon, where his father practised law.He was the centre of the Lyonnese côterie that elaborated the theory of spiritual love, derived partly from Plato and partly from Petrarch...
's "Emblems of Desire: Selections from the Délie" - Guillevic's "Geometries"
Sieburth has also translated the poetry of well-known American poets into French, including selections from Michael Palmer
Michael Palmer
Michael Palmer is an American poet and translator. He attended Harvard University where he earned a BA in French and a MA in Comparative Literature. He has worked extensively with Contemporary dance for over thirty years and has collaborated with many composers and visual artists...
's Sun (1988). In addition, he has edited many important volumes including a recent edition of Ezra Pound's Pisan Cantos, "Poems & Translations" and "New Selected Poems and Translations".
His English edition of the Nerval won the 2000 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize
PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize
The PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize is an annual award given to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been presented annually by PEN American Center and the Book of the Month Club since 1963....
. His recent translation of Maurice Scève
Maurice Scève
Maurice Scève , French poet, was born at Lyon, where his father practised law.He was the centre of the Lyonnese côterie that elaborated the theory of spiritual love, derived partly from Plato and partly from Petrarch...
’s Délie was a finalist for the PEN
International PEN
PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....
Translation Prize and the Weidenfeld Prize.
In February 2008, Sieburth's translation of Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
's play The Cenci (itself an adaptation of Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
's The Cenci
The Cenci
The Cenci, A Tragedy, in Five Acts is a verse drama in five acts by Percy Bysshe Shelley written in the summer of 1819, and inspired by a real Italian family, the Cencis . Shelley composed the play at Rome and at Villa Valsovano near Livorno, from May to August 5, 1819...
and a novella by Stendhal
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
) was performed, opening at The Ohio Theatre in New York City on February 7 with daily showings through February 23.
Select bibliography
Editor- Ezra Pound: Poems & Translations (Library of America, 2003)
- Ezra Pound: The Pisan Cantos (New Directions, 2003).
- Ezra Pound: New Selected Poems & Translations (New Directions, 2010).
Translations
- (and editor), Hymns and Fragments by Friedrich Hölderlin (Princeton University Press, 1984)
- Moscow Diary by Walter Benjamin (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986)
- Nights As Day, Days As Night. trans. of "Nuits sans nuit et quelques jours sans jour" by Michel Leiris (Eridanos Books, 1988)
- Selected Prose and Poetry by Gérard de Nerval (New York: Penguin Classics, 1996)
- Gerard de Nerval – Selected Writings, with introduction. (New York: Penguin Books, 1999)
- Emergences/Resurgences. trans. of "Émergences-Résurgences"' by Henri Michaux (Skira; The Drawing Center, 2000)
- (and editor), Emblems of Desire: Selections from Maurice Scève's "Délie" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002) ISBN 978-0-8122-3694-1
- The Fullness of Time: Poems by Gershom Scholem (Jerusalem: Ibis Editions, 2003)
- (and editor), Lenz by Georg Büchner (New York: Archipelago Books, 2005)
- Stroke by Stroke by Henri Michaux (New York: Archipelago Books, 2006) - includes two Michaux texts: "Stroke by Stroke" (Par des traits) and "Grasp" (Saisir)
- The Salt Smugglers. trans. of "Les Faux Saulniers" by Gérard de Nerval (New York: Archipelago Books, 2009)
- Geometries. trans. of "Euclidiennes" by Eugène Guillevic (Ugly Duckling Press, 2010)
Authored books
- Signs in Action: Ideograms of Pound and Michaux (Red Dust Books, 1987)
External links
- Cross-Cultural Poetics:Episode #59: Palimpsest and Retrieval Richard Sieburth discusses and reads from his translation of Georg Buchner's Lenz (available in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
) / Audio file- Note: scan down the page to episode #59. Also available on this page:
- Episode #65: Richard the II in which Sieburth discusses the Library of America Ezra Pound which he has edited.
- Episode #211: Emblems of Desire, February 18, 2010 in which Sieburth reads from & discusses his translations of Maurice Sceve, as published in Emblems of Desires
- Note: scan down the page to episode #59. Also available on this page:
- Hieronymo's Mad Againe: On Translating Nerval
- "Editor's Note": Richard Sieburth on Ezra Pound: Poems and Translations link here to read Sieburth's editor's note to this Library of America volume of Ezra Pound
- The Work of Voice in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction part of Sieburth's The Sound of Pound: A Listener’s Guide part of PENNSound's Ezra Pound page, with complete recordings of Pound available
- Faculty Homepage at the NYU Department of French website