The New Yorker: Poetry Valzhyna Mort Reads Victoria Amelina and Wisława Szymborska
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Jul 24, 2024 
Award-winning poet and translator Valzhyna Mort reads poems by Ukrainian poet Victoria Amelina and Polish poet Wisława Szymborska. They discuss the art of translation, the power of precision in naming horrors, and the importance of rhythm and repetition in poetry. The episode delves into themes of resistance, survival, and the complexity of sharing experiences through poetry.
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From Novelist To Witness Collector
- Victoria Amelina shifted from fiction to documenting war testimonies after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- She worked with Truth Hounds collecting stories from small liberated towns, which fed poems like "Testimonies."
Listing As Poetic Distancing
- Amelina uses a bureaucratic list to distance sentiment and organize chaos in wartime testimony.
- The poem's slow turn moves from catalog to intimate scene, collapsing strangers into sisters.
Let The Target Language Sing
- Translation must find the target language's music rather than mirror the original's sounds.
- Mort listens to English until it offers equivalent musical and semantic choices like "survivors" and "sisters."