Ion Barbu–Uvedenrode

Q: How do you translate a modernist, quasi-dadaist poem whose primary reason of being is musical rather than "meaningful"?
A: You don’t.
Oh, I forgot. Just because it can’t be translated doesn’t mean yours truly won’t try!

Ion Barbu (pen name of Dan Barbilian) was a very gifted mathematician and one of Romania’s most important modern poets. Uvedenrode (which doesn’t really mean anything) is a surrealistic cross between precise, crystalline rhymes and unabashed sensual undertones.

So here are some of the betrayals I chose to make:
- I translated "Uvedenrode" as a plural in English (with a final -s) because, although it does not mean anything, it has a plural form in Romanian (and it also rhymes with plural nouns).
- I invented "gastropodists" out of "gastropods" in order to make it rhyme with "rhapsodists" and with "modistes," the first of which is a faithful translation, the second of which it is not. (But what would you do with "moduri de ode"–"modes of odes"? Hmph.) More to the point: Barbu uses two plurals for "gastropod"–of which only the first one is technically correct ("gasteropode," in the first stanza); "gasteropozi" sounds grammatical, but it’s not. If it were grammatical, it would be a masculine plural (as opposed to "gasteropode," which is a feminine form). Given that "gasteropod" is a neutral noun in Romanian (that means that the  singular form is masculine, and the plural form is feminine, and the entire species asexual (not really, but go with it for now))–you can see how Barbu gently suggests the sexualization of a rather  primitive life form to sing his wonderfully crazy ode to a fertile, music-ordered chaos.
- "din  setrele mari/apari"–tough one! "Satra"=gypsy camp, basically, but try working that one in here! I just opted for…"spheres."
- "O cal de val/ Peste cavală/
Cu varul deasupra-n spirală!"–nonsensical wordplay on consonants–c and v, and the liquids l and r. I kept most of them in my equally nonsensical (though definitely not as inspired) translation: "Oh knave of wave/Over the cavalcade,/The cave over it in an arcade!"

There are many others, so in the end it will turn out that I haven’t exactly translated the poem as much as I re-wrote it. Nevertheless, it’s a fun, strange, sonorous piece that will at least make you say, whaa? jus’ wait a minute, before you actually stop and think about it for a minute and figure that it’s pretty cool, after all.

Uvedenrode de Ion Barbu La râpa Uvedenrode Ce multe gasteropode! Suprasexuale Supramuzicale; Gasteropozi! Mult limpezi rapsozi, Moduri de ode Ceruri eşarfă Antene în harfă; Uvedenrode Peste mode şi timp Olimp! Ceas în cristalin Lângă fecioara Geraldine! Dantelele sale Ca floarea de zale, Prin braţele ei Gheţari în idei, La soarele sfânt, Egal – acest cânt: Ordonată spiră, Sunet Fruct de liră, Capăt paralogic, Leagăn mitologic, Din şetrele mari Apari: O cal de val Peste cavală Cu varul deasupra-n spirală! Încorporată poftă, Uite o fată, Lunecă o dată, Lunecă de două Ori până la nouă, Până o-nfăşori În fiori uşori, Până-o torci în zale Gasteropodale; Până când, în lente Antene atente O cobori: Pendular de-ncet, Inutil pachet, Sub timp, Sub mode În Uvedenrode.

Uvedenrode by Ion Barbu At the ravine Uvedenrodes So many gastropods! Suprasexual, Supramusical. Gastropodists! Such clear rhapsodists Ode-singing modistes The skies are all scarves Antennae in harps. Uvedenrodes Over time, over modes— Palinodes! The hour, crystalline, Next to virgin Geraldine! Her lacy veil— Flower of chain mail, And through her arms— Icebergs with charms! To the sacred sun— This song, bar none. Ordered spire, Sound, Fruit of a lyre, Ending  paralogical Cradle mythological, From the high spheres You appear: Oh knave of wave Over the cavalcade, The cave over it in an arcade! Self contained lust, A girl with a bust Slides, but just Once, then she slides Twice, then nine times, Until she feels Light shivers and thrills Until you spin her, Gastropodal blur; Until into many Attentive antennae You lower her down: Like a pendulum rocks, A useless box, Under times, Under modes, In Uvedenrodes.

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