TRC 211 translation

I'm going to be going back over my old translations of Tsubasa and HOLiC and adding in the SFX over the next few weeks, so check back for that.

( The love you've found must never stop )

Give 'em the old razzle-dazzle

So John Updike died yesterday. At least he'll never get the Nobel Prize (though of course the Nobel committee in its current mood would never have given it to someone whose best work focused on boring white middle-class suburban American men, and who wrote Terrorist and Brazil--and in that much at least I don't blame the committee). If the Rabbit books are the great American novel American letters are doomed, that's what I say. Seriously, I've read most of the greats of American literature--almost all men, not coincidentally--and even as a liberal feminist woman at the end of the 20th century there's stuff in there that I, and everyone, can grab onto, things that are of the human experience. I won't deny Updike his considerable gifts, but seriously, where's the wrestling with the big, dangerous questions, dare I say the abyss? Where does he put himself on the line or humanity in the dock? If anyone deserves a Nobel it's Philip Roth (I'm looking at you, The Plot Against America).

I also finished Sarah Monette's The Mirador yesterday. I devoured it, like the other two, in about six hours, so clearly I enjoyed it. *g* Monette's characters are indelible (I love Mildlmay so much), but I've been thinking about her work more in the context of world-building, that nebulous, all-important aspect of sci-fi and fantasy. As I said earlier, I have the background to spot where Monette is getting her references, so I can't quite share the enthuiasm of the amazon.com reviewers who exclaim "brilliant!" and "inventive!" What I like is her using two calendars in the same city, and her taking stuff from the Byzantines is what I found most brilliant, since no one in the West knows or cares about Byzantium. I've been regretting my own ignorance on that score for years. But as I said, I sort of feel like some of the charm of the "bits and pieces of the real world re-arranged" approach to world-building has worn off for me, I'm left wondering: is that it? Really? Is that all I have to do? I truly enjoyed and would recommend these books highly, but for someone who invents settings out of whole cloth, or at least in a manner in which I can't spot the seams, I'd name China Miéville, maybe. Of course, with Monette the characters take the spotlight, while I'm not sure I could say the same of Miéville.

I GOT AN INTERVIEW WITH THE JET PROGRAM.