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De Chileense dichter en schrijver Sergio Badilla Castillo werd geboren in Valparaíso op 30 november 1947. Hij studeerde journalistiek in Chili en studeerde af in 1972. Daarna studeerde hij antropologie aan de universiteit van Stockholm. Men beschouwt hem als een dichter die wordt beïnvloed door het werk van Scandinavische schrijvers, zoals Edith Södergran, Elmer Diktonius, Paavo Haavikko, Pentti Saarikoski, Gunnar Ekelöf, Tomas Tranströmer en Lars Gustavsson. Sergio Badilla Castillo schrijft in het Spaans en in het Engels. Zijn eerste gedichtenbundel, Entre el cemento y el pasto , werd gepubliceerd in 1971. In 1980 bracht hij Más abajo de mi rama uit, en in 1997 publiceerde hij Saga Nórdica, (Noordse Saga) een van zijn bekendste werken. Castillo is de grondlegger van het transrealisme in de hedendaagse poëzie.
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Sweet Young Lady
A last-chance love has ended.
Such stormingno shelter reached.
Such inclemencyno refuge had.
Night wears its darkest face tonight
In the small hours agony itself becomes a whirlwind
Sorrowful young lady
so doleful, most sad
her heart beats, yielding rough splinters
with its sudden throbbings
In the depths of her silence she is damaged
and her eyelids cede to the force of her tears:
perverse unlucky shameless
The celebration has ended for now and perhaps forever
biting are the fractured writings of the scoundrel
who torments her soul.
She is blind. The light of the timid courtesan
is out
after the repeated false faces
of her sullen lover
the feigned charms of a bachelor passionate
and trapped among the beggars with a look of penitence
he remains to ask forgiveness for his audacity
Off the mast last trips dirty sails still hang
The wind hisses
radiance cannot pass through the sea of hanging sails
the prayer repeats itself like a crystal voice in a familiar tongue
and is lost in the squall
Our maid
frail and old a hurricane crosses her face
cracking her careful manners her pleasant gestures
The estuary is distant opposite the reef
Nevertheless it is she who succumbs while the ship stays afloat
and the ocean rises up portside to her thoughts Rimbaud and
maybe only Rimbaud starboard to her
struggling in his drunken boat
Motherhood never knotted her womb
never pressed upon it the legitimacy of the sapling
not in deepest love or idle chance
there sensation stayed untouched
the seed of marble and the progenitor, sterile
Vertaald door Deborah Moore
Sergio Badilla Castillo (Valparaíso, 30 november 1947)
De Amerikaanse toneelschrijver en filmregisseur David Mamet werd geboren op 30 november 1947 in Chicago, Hij studeerde aan het Goddard College in Vermont en de Neighorhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York. In 1976 maakte hij zijn Newyorkse debuut met een dubbelvoorstelling van 'The duck variations', met twee oude mannen pratend op een bank in het park en 'Sexual perversity in Chicago', over twee jongemannen op vrouwenjacht (in 1986 verfilmd als 'About Last Night'). Verder schreef hij 'American Buffalo' (1975), over de gangstermentaliteit van de zakenwereld, 'Glengarry Glen Ross' (1983), zijn met de Pulitzer Prize bekroonde nachtmerrie uit de Onroerend Goed Makelaardij, 'Speed-the-Plow' (1987), over de verschrikkingen van Hollywood, en 'Oleanna' (1993). Mamet wordt vaak vergeleken met Samuel Becket en Harold Pinter. In 1994 debuteerde hij als romanschrijver met 'The Village', over de zwarte achterkant van het hedendaagse Amerikaans dorpsleven. Vanaf 1981 schreef Mamet ook filmscenario's, beginnend met de nieuwe versie van Cain's 'The Postman Always Rings Twice', 'The Untouchables' (1987) en 'House of Games' (1987), een film die hij ook regisseerde. Recent schreef en regisseerde hij 'Homicide' (1991).
Mamet staat bekend om zij Mametspeak, een halfrealistische straattaal die zijn stukken over de machistische mannenwereld (American Buffalo, Speed the plow) een bijzonder realisme verleende, terwijl hij vaak een kritische noot liet horen bij recente ontwikkeingen in de Amerikaanse maatschappij.
Uit: Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'
I wrote a play about politics (November, Barrymore Theater, Broadway, some seats still available). And as part of the "writing process," as I believe it's called, I started thinking about politics. This comment is not actually as jejune as it might seem. Porgy and Bess is a buncha good songs but has nothing to do with race relations, which is the flag of convenience under which it sailed.
But my play, it turned out, was actually about politics, which is to say, about the polemic between persons of two opposing views. The argument in my play is between a president who is self-interested, corrupt, suborned, and realistic, and his leftish, lesbian, utopian-socialist speechwriter.
The play, while being a laugh a minute, is, when it's at home, a disputation between reason and faith, or perhaps between the conservative (or tragic) view and the liberal (or perfectionist) view. The conservative president in the piece holds that people are each out to make a living, and the best way for government to facilitate that is to stay out of the way, as the inevitable abuses and failures of this system (free-market economics) are less than those of government intervention.
I took the liberal view for many decades, but I believe I have changed my mind.
As a child of the '60s, I accepted as an article of faith that government is corrupt, that business is exploitative, and that people are generally good at heart.
David Mamet (Chicago, 30 november 1947)
De Canadese dichter, arts, auteur, kunstenaar, militair John Alexander McCrae werd geboren in Guelph (Ontario) op 30 november 1872. Hij had zich onderscheiden in de Boerenoorlog (1899-1902) waaraan hij als arts-vrijwilliger had deelgenomen. In 1901 nam hij ontslag uit militaire dienst en wijdde zich aan een medische carrière tot op 4 augustus 1914 de Eerste Wereldoorlog uitbrak en hij zich opnieuw meldde als vrijwilliger. Hij werd benoemd tot arts bij de First Brigade van de Canadian Field Artillery. McCrae schreef met een zekere regelmaat gedichten waarvan ook een aantal in literaire bladen werd geplaatst. Op 22 april 1915 werden de eerste aanvallen met chloorgas ingezet te Boezinge, de plaats waar McCrae als arts frontdienst verrichtte tijdens de gevechten. Diep onder de indruk van de gebeurtenissen schreef hij op 3 mei het gedicht In Flanders Field, misschien wel het meest bekende gedicht uit deze oorlog:
In Flanders Field
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The Anxious Dead
O guns, fall silent till the dead men hear
Above their heads the legions pressing on:
(These fought their fight in time of bitter fear,
And died not knowing how the day had gone.)
O flashing muzzles, pause, and let them see
The coming dawn that streaks the sky afar;
Then let your mighty chorus witness be
To them, and Caesar, that we still make war.
Tell them, O guns, that we have heard their call,
That we have sworn, and will not turn aside,
That we will onward till we win or fall,
That we will keep the faith for which they died.
Bid them be patient, and some day, anon,
They shall feel earth enwrapt in silence deep;
Shall greet, in wonderment, the quiet dawn,
And in content may turn them to their sleep.
John McCrae (30 november 1872 - 28 januari 1918)
De Engelse schrijver David Nicholls werd geboren op 30 november 1966 in Hampshire. Hij werd opgeleid tot acteur en heeft ook als zodanig gewerkt. Hij trad o.a. op in het West Yorkshire Playhouse en het Royal National Theatre, daarbij gebruik makend van het pseudoniem David Holdaway. Als romanschrijver debuteerde hij in 2003 met Starter for Ten.
Uit: A Question of Attraction
QUESTION: Stepson to Robert Dudley and onetime favorite of Elizabeth I, which nobleman led a poorly planned and unsuccessful revolt against the queen, and was subsequently executed in 1601?
ANSWER: Essex. All young people worry about things, its a natural and inevitable part of growing up, and at the age of sixteen my greatest anxiety in life was that Id never again achieve anything as good, or pure, or noble, or true, as my O-level exam results.
I didnt make a big deal about them at the time, of course; I didnt frame the certificates or anything weird like that, and I wont go into the actual grades here, because then it just gets competitive, but I definitely liked having them: qualifications. Sixteen years old, and the first time Id ever felt qualified for anything.
Of course, all that was a long, long time ago. Im eighteen now, and I like to think Im a lot wiser and cooler about these things. So my A-levels are, comparatively, no big deal. Besides, the notion that you can somehow quantify intelligence by some ridiculous, antiquated system of written examinations is obviously specious. Having said that, they were Langley Street Comprehensive Schools best A-level results of 1985, the best for fifteen years in fact, three As and a B, thats nineteen pointsthere, Ive said it nowbut I really, honestly dont believe thats particularly relevant, I just mention them in passing. And, anyway, compared to other qualities, like physical courage, or popularity, or good looks, or clear skin, or an active sex life, just knowing a whole load of stuff isnt actually that important.
David Nicholls (Hampshire, 30 november 1966)
De Amerikaanse schrijver Wil Mara werd geboren op 30 november 1966 in de buurt van Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Hij schrijft zowel fictie als non-fictie. Hij won de 2005 New Jersey Notable Book Award voor Wave, waarin de reactie van een eilandbevolking op een tsunami wordt beschreven. Hij voltooide het boek al in 2004. De uitgave werd uitgesteld toen Zuidoost-Azië in december 2004 door een echte tsunami werd getroffen.
Uit: Blown Away!
The train stopped at Islamorada right on time, and Dad was there with the truck to meet us. I'll never forget the look on his face when we paraded Jewel and Rudy down the ramp and onto the dirt road.
"Am I seeing right?" Dad asked.
"You're seeing right, Dad!" I yelled, pushing the tipsy wheelbarrow, with the dog trotting along behind me. "Sharkey bought a mule and a dog in Key West!" Sharkey led Jewel nicely this time. The mule was probably tired of the train ride and eager to keep Rudy in her sights.
"She's a pretty thing, isn't she?" Sharkey said proudly as Jewel nuzzled his arm.
"Her name's Jewel," I told Dad. "The dog came with her. His name's Rudy."
"My game leg's been bothering me, and I thought the mule could help pull the boats in when they need work -- that kind of thing," Sharkey explained.
"I suppose a mule could come in handy," Dad agreed.
"Mules have put this whole country together," Sharkey went on, somewhat defensively, as if he had to explain that he wasn't totally crazy to have come home with Jewel. "They took the pioneers out West, they built the Erie Canal..."
"They work in the coal mines," an unfamiliar girl's voice piped up. "I've seen them down there hauling the coal cars. Some of them have never seen the light of day." The girl was sitting on the steps of the train station. Beside her was a battered cardboard suitcase that looked as though it might fall apart at any moment. I wondered if she was traveling by herself.
Wil Mara (Long Beach Island, 30 november 1966)
De Amerikaanse dichter, schrijver en essayist Lee Klein werd geboren op 30 november 1965 in New York. Hij is o.a de schrijver van "World's Biggest Shopping Mall Poem"dat in 1997 verscheen, gevolgd door "Financial Surrealists Take the Train" in 1999. Hij schrijft o.a voor Performing Arts Journal (formerly Johns Hopkins now MIT Press).
Uit: Incidents of Egotourism in the Temporary World
She walks out of the airport terminal bathroom, her posture worthy of balancing sacks of grain on her head. She looks around where she last saw me. Ive hidden myself behind a soda machine. I just barely catch a glance of her. She doesnt seem abandoned. She stops, stands still. I have her half-packed duffel tucked out of sight. Shes alone in the Philadelphia airport with only what she has in her pockets. She stands there, a solid figure just a few strides in front of the womens bathroom. A barely perceptible glow on the side of her cheek. Id jump out if I sensed the least distress. But she just stands there, not moving, probably expecting me to emerge from the mens room any second. She reaches into her well-worn jeans, pulls out a dollar, tries to smooth it on her thigh. Then she uses the edge of a pay-phone encasement, working over the creases in Washingtons portrait until he looks much younger, more amendable to the soda machines discerning dollar-bill mechanism. She starts moving toward me. I duck back against the wall. Then I realize itd be better if I continued observing her from point-blank range. I position myself so a sliver of my eye can just see the least outline of her jacket. I hear the dollar-bill mechanism inhale her bill. A moment of choice. She presses one of the rectangular glowing logos. I feel the soda machines internal mechanisms process her order. Theres a second between her pressing and the drop of the can, a hesitancy, and in that second I wonder if the machines considering whether it should honor its side of the bargain (since it already has the money), or maybe theres something else going on: like its thinking how can I give this one a can of my precious soda? I feel a glass-hanging moment of potential rejection that shatters when the can drops.
Lee Klein (New York,.30 november 1965)
De Chinese schrijfster Adeline Yen Mah werd geboren op 30 november 1937 in Tianjin. Zij groeide op in Tianjin, Shanghai en Hong Kong met een oudere zus, drie jongere broers en een jongere halfbroer en half zuster. Toen zij zeven was stierf haar moeder en haar vader verweet haar dit overlijden zijn leven lang.Tegen de achtergrond van de Chinese geschiedenis beschreef zij in Falling Leaves het familieverhaal.
Uit: Falling Leaves
My own memories of Tianjin are nebulous. Early photographs show a solemn little girl with clenched fists, pressed lips and serious eyes, dressed in pretty western frocks decorated with ribbons and bows. I enjoyed school and looked forward to going there. Lydia and I were pulled there and back daily in Grandmother's black, shiny rickshaw. It had a brass lamp on each side and a bell operable by foot. When I revisited Tianjin in 1987, I was surprised to find that it took only seven minutes to walk from our house to St Joseph's.
I remember Lydia as an imposing, rather intimidating figure. Between us there were three brothers and a gap of six and a half years. We were a world apart.
Lydia liked to exercise her authority and flex her muscles by quizzing me on my homework, especially catechism. Her favourite question was, 'Who made you?'To this, I always knew the answer. Like a parrot I would trot out the well worn phrase, 'God made me.' Then came the twister. A gleam came into her eyes. 'Why did God make you?' I never could answer because teacher never taught us beyond the first question. Lydia would then give me a resounding slap with her powerful right hand, and call me stupid. During our daily rickshaw rides, she liked to keep me waiting and was invariably late. On the rare occasions when I was delayed in class she simply rode the rickshaw home alone but would send the puller back to get me. She tended to be stocky, even as a child. Her physical deformity gave her a characteristic posture, with her semi-paralysed left arm hanging limply by her side and her face perpetually tilted slightly forwards and to the left. From my four-year-old perspective, she was a fearsome figure of authority.
Adeline Yen Mah (Tianjin, 30 november 1937)
Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 30e november ook mijn vorige bericht.
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