|
De Tsjechische psycholoog, schrijver en dichter Jan Křesadlo (pseudoniem van Václav Jaroslav Karel Pinkava) werd geboren op 9 december 1926 in Praag. Zie ook mijn blog van 9 december 2006.xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Uit: The Purple Anachorete (fragment)
"With green-tinged light, behold, the west was blazing,
in slowly waning, dying conflagration,
after the sun's great disc had settled, lazing,
in its gold-purple furnace of cremation,
out-spanned in splendid vaulted meditation,
hovering, still, inviting breathless gazing: Yet by-and-by the outspread molten glory
began to fade and greener grew each storey.
And in that green, a castle silhouetting,
arching like backs of dragons or related
monsters, drawn-out, sinuous, outward setting
in droves against clouds green and corrugated,
above the panoply of roofs grey-slated -
feasting the eye, as dark clouds drew their netting
over the stage where bristling gothic spires
and battlements stemmed the horizon's fires.
Infiltrating the skies, with jackdaws ridden,
flurries of bats began to make impression,
leaving their hideaways and dens, well-hidden
and setting off in one prolonged procession,
in their perambulating intercession
then swiftly dwindling, by far distance bidden,
winged coenobites heading for far places:
Their cordon whirled in strands and braided traces..."
Vertaald door VZJ Pinkava
Jan Křesadlo (9 december 1926 - 13 augustus 1995)
De Wit-Russische (Belarussische) dichter, journalist en criticus Maksim Bahdanovič werd geboren op 9 december 1891 in Minsk. Zie ook mijn blog van 9 december 2006.
"Above the white down of the cherries. . ."
De la musique avant toute chose.
P. Verlaine
Above the white down of the cherries,
Like blue fire, soaring high,
Cleaving, weaving pathways, light and
Swift a blue-winged butterfly.
All around the air is trembling
With the sun in golden strings,
And almost too quiet for hearing
It strums them with trembling wings.
And in waves the song is pouring,
Gentle gleaming paean to spring.
Is it not my heart that carols?
Is it not my heart that sings?
Is it not a bell-voiced zephyr,
Whispering in the thin plants, hides?
Or perhaps the tall dry rushes
Rustling at the waterside?
Not for us to understand it,
Nor discover it, nor learn:
The notes flying, quivering, ringing,
Let me not to thinking turn.
Song bursts forth and gushes into
The great world, unfettered, free.
But who is it that will hear it?
The poet alone, maybe.
TO S. PAŁUJAN
(Triolet)
You were, like the moon, alone:
You lonely lived, you lonely died.
Though wide the world with people sown,
You were, like the moon, alone.
Beauty and light, expanses wide
You sought and, far from everyone,
You were, like the moon, alone:
You lonely lived, you lonely died.
Vertaald door Vera Rich
Maksim Bahdanovič (9 december 1891 25 mei 1917)
De Engelse dichter en schrijver John Milton werd geboren op 9 december 1608 in Londen. Zie ook mijn blog van 9 december 2006.
ON HIS HAVING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-THREE
HOW soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth,
Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year!
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossow shew'th.
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth
That I to manhood am arrived so near;
And inward ripeness doth much less appear,
That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th.
Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow,
It shall be still in strictest measure even
To that same lot, however mean or high,
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven.
All is, if I have grace to use it so,
As ever in my great Task-Master's eye.
John Milton (9 december 1608 8 november 1674)
De Amerikaanse schrijver en sceenwriter James Dalton Trumbo werd geboren op 9 december 1905 in het plaatsje Montrose in Colorado. Dalton groeide op in Grand Junction waar zijn ouders in 1908 naartoe verhuisden. Tijdens zijn universiteitsperiode besefte hij dat hij schrijver wilde worden. Toen zijn vader ontslagen werd volgde Dalton het gezin naar Los Angeles, waar hij zich inschreef aan de University of South California. Hij kon zijn studie niet afmaken omdat hij na de dood van zijn vader in 1926, de zorg voor het gezin op zich moest nemen. Hij had verschillende baantjes. Uiteindelijk kwam hij terecht bij de Davis Perfection Bakery. Dit werk heeft hij jaren gedaan. In deze jaren bleef hij schrijven, meest korte verhalen. Hij verkocht verhalen en schreef zijn eerste roman Eclipse die in 1934 verscheen. In datzelfde jaar kon hij eindelijk de bakkerij vaarwel zeggen omdat hij een baan kreeg als reader bij Warner Bros. Al snel leidde dat tot een baan als junior screenwriter op de afdeling B-films. In oktober 1947 moesten de filmmensen tegen wie een verdenking gekoesterd werd, voor de House Un-American Activities Committee verschijnen. Tien van de gedaagden weigerden antwoord te geven. Dit werd gezien als minachting van de rechtbank en daarvoor werden de tien veroordeeld tot gevangenisstraffen van ongeveer een jaar. Dalton Trumbo was één van hen. De tien werden ook door Hollywood op de zwarte lijst geplaatst. Trumbo heeft 10 maanden in de gevangenis gezeten. Na zijn vrijlating vertrok hij eerst na Mexico, waar hij stug doorging met schrijven. De welvarende tijd was echter voorbij. In de jaren vijftig heeft hij onder pseudoniem een dertigtal scripts geschreven. Voor twee daarvan, Roman Holiday (1953) en The brave one (1957) kreeg hij de oscar hoewel de Academy zich daar niet van bewust was.
Uit: Johnny Got His Gun
He shot up through cool waters wondering whether he'd ever make the surface or not. That was a lot of guff about people sinking three times and then drowning. He'd been rising and sinking for days weeks months who could tell? But he hadn't drowned. As he came to the surface each time he fainted into reality and as he went down again he fainted into nothingness. Long slow faints all of them while he struggled for air and life. He was fighting too hard and he knew it. A man can't fight always. If he's drowning or suffocating he's got to be smart and hold back some of his strength for the last the final the death struggle.
He lay back quietly because he was no fool. If you lie back you can float. He used to float a lot when he was a kid. He knew how to do it. His last strength going into that fight when all he had to do was float. What a fool.
They were working on him. It took him a little while to understand this because he couldn't hear them. Then he remembered that he was deaf. It was funny to lie there and have people in the room who were touching you watching you doctoring you and yet not within hearing distance. The bandages were still all over his head so he couldn't see them either. He only knew that way out there in the darkness beyond the reach of his ears people were working over him and trying to help him.
They were taking part of his bandages off. He could feel the coolness the sudden drying of sweat on his left side. They were working on his arm. He felt the pinch of a sharp little instrument grabbing something and getting a bit of his skin with each grab. He didn't jump. He simply lay there because he had to save his strength. He tried to figure out why they were pinching him. After each pinch there was a little pull in the flesh of his upper arm and an unpleasant point of heat like friction. The pulling kept on in short little jerks with his skin getting hot each time. It hurt. He wished they'd stop. It itched. He wished they'd scratch him.
Dalton Trumbo (9 december 1905 10 september 1976)
|
