Songs for the Gusle
Prosper Mérimée; translated by Laura Nagle
Songs for the Gusle
Price: $20.00 pbk. World Literature, Translation 5.5x8.5; 141 p. ISBN: 9781642510454 Publication Date: March 21, 2023 Now Available! "The power of Songs for the Gusle for contemporary English-speaking readers is in this puzzling tension between the real and unreal, which is darkly familiar in the online age, wherein truth is continually uncertain and subject to cultural biases." - Booklife by Publisher's Weekly
"Nagle's translation far surpasses doing this work justice—she has given new life to a work lost to time and conveyed not merely the words on the page, but pays true homage to the overall satire and wit that first appeared in La Guzla." - mrobinsonwrites on HIVE
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This is the first complete English-language translation of La Guzla, ou Choix de poésies illyriques recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, la Croatie et l’Herzégowine, which presents a collection of folk literature from the former Illyrian Provinces. Or does it? It contains short pieces drawing from various genres—ersatz scholarly essays, ballad lyrics presented in the form of prose poems, folk tales, a fragment of a stage play—all generously peppered with footnotes explaining the historical and sociological context of these “discoveries.”
First published in 1827, La Guzla purported to be a collection of folktales, ballad lyrics, and travel narratives compiled and translated into French by an anonymous traveler returning from the Balkans. Before long, though, it was revealed that both the stories and their “translator” were the fictional creations of a young civil servant, Prosper Mérimée, who would later become one of the most accomplished French writers of his generation. In these dramatic tales of love, war, and encounters with the supernatural, Mérimée has given us both a treasure trove of “fakelore” and a satirical portrait of a self-appointed expert blissfully unaware of how little he understands the cultures he claims to represent. About the Author
Prosper Mérimée (1803–1870), a French writer and translator from Russian, was a major figure in the Romantic movement. He is remembered as a pioneer of the novella, with Carmen (1845) and Colomba (1840) figuring among his best-known works. A noted archaeologist and advocate for historic preservation, Mérimée served for two decades as France’s inspector-general of historic monuments. About the Translator Laura Nagle is a translator and writer based in Indianapolis. Her translations of prose and poetry from French and Spanish have appeared in journals including AGNI, The Southern Review, ANMLY, and The Los Angeles Review. She received a Travel Fellowship from the American Literary Translators Association in 2020. |
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What Advance Readers Are Saying:
"A joyfully elliptical translation that enlivens the dark humor of the original, penned by a writer posing as the preserver of the mythical and so-called barely human ‘Illyrian tongue.’ A long overdue edition for anyone interested in folk poetry, race politics, and empire in the Balkans.”
--Ena Selimović, Co-founder of Turkoslavia
“Mérimée’s La Guzla is a unique, mesmerizing work that combines poetry, prose, and critical apparatus into one of the most brilliant literary hoaxes. Unfairly overlooked to this day, even in its native France, it has been unavailable in English in its entirety—until now. Both accurate and elegant, Laura Nagle’s felicitous translation uncannily navigates the many pitfalls and subtleties hidden in Mérimée’s deceptively simple text with admirable skill and efficacy. The result is a momentous translator’s feat and a sumptuous feast for the reader.”
--Philippe Met, Professor of French Studies, University of Pennsylvania
"A joyfully elliptical translation that enlivens the dark humor of the original, penned by a writer posing as the preserver of the mythical and so-called barely human ‘Illyrian tongue.’ A long overdue edition for anyone interested in folk poetry, race politics, and empire in the Balkans.”
--Ena Selimović, Co-founder of Turkoslavia
“Mérimée’s La Guzla is a unique, mesmerizing work that combines poetry, prose, and critical apparatus into one of the most brilliant literary hoaxes. Unfairly overlooked to this day, even in its native France, it has been unavailable in English in its entirety—until now. Both accurate and elegant, Laura Nagle’s felicitous translation uncannily navigates the many pitfalls and subtleties hidden in Mérimée’s deceptively simple text with admirable skill and efficacy. The result is a momentous translator’s feat and a sumptuous feast for the reader.”
--Philippe Met, Professor of French Studies, University of Pennsylvania