Episode · The Book Review · 2023-07-07
Books mentioned on The Magic of Literary Translation and 'Bridget Jones' at 25
Gilbert Cruz discussed Where the wild things are by Maurice Sendak, The Iliad, and Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding. Also mentioned: Never Did the Fire by Diamela Eltit and others and The Odyssey.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Never Did the Fire
Discussed“she wrote a novel called never did the fire about an aging revolutionary couple whose son has died and they're wondering where their life is going in the absence of their political cause now in the absence of their dead son”
Where to get it
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Where the wild things are
Maurice Sendak's Where the wild things are is a beloved children's picture book that follows a young boy named Max on an imaginative journey to a land of fantastical creatures before returning safely to his bedroom.
Discussed“and he talks about one of the most famous children's books of all time in the English language which is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and in his intro to his piece he takes this one very brief phrase through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost a year he's talking about Max”
Where to get it
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The Iliad
Homer's ancient epic poem The Iliad chronicles the final weeks of the Trojan War and the devastating wrath of the Greek warrior Achilles.
Discussed“issue in a piece by Emily Wilson who's a writer and translator who recently worked on a forthcoming translation of Homer The Iliad and she writes about a section that she translates”
Where to get it
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The Odyssey
The Odyssey by Homer is an epic ancient Greek poem that follows the arduous ten-year journey of Odysseus as he attempts to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, encountering mythical creatures, divine wrath, and numerous trials along the way.
Discussed“Emily Wilson who is a Classics professor at the University of Pennsylvania had previously translated The Odyssey back in 2017 and she did so I love that translation of the Odyssey”
Where to get it
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Bridget Jones's Diary
Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding is a landmark contemporary comedic novel that popularized the Bridget Jones series and captured the experiences of a single British woman navigating romance and professional life in the 1990s.
Discussed“you're talking about a piece you've written looking back at the 25th anniversary of Bridget Jones's Diary what led you to write this piece”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“and then it led to an entire genre of books that I won't call copycats but that were descendants of Bridget Jones and those were the shopaholic books The Nanny Diaries I don't know how she does it by Allison Pearson”
“and then it led to an entire genre of books that I won't call copycats but that were descendants of Bridget Jones and those were the shopaholic books The Nanny Diaries I don't know how she does it by Allison Pearson”