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Reviews
Poems from the Edge of Extinction: An Anthology of Poetry in Endangered Languages by Chris McCabe
natchewwy's review
4.0
Sat down to read this for poetry month. I'm always a little leery of language documentation for the sake of scientific inquiry/linguistic ecology/the historical record—however well intentioned, it isolates the spoken words from their speakers and tends to center language death as a tragedy for Humanity's Linguistic Diversity, instead of a symptom of cultural and communal death. "we discovered that we ourselves were the language" Valzhyna Mort writes (trans. from Belarusian) in this collection, which does an admirable job of keeping the focus on the speakers of endangered languages, and what their words mean to them. Every poem is accompanied by an English translation, an overview of the language, a bio of the poet, and a short but thoughtful close read of some of the poem. Poetry is a wonderful genre for documentation because it exposes the inadequacy of recorded grammars that attempt to comprehensively catalogue dying languages—there's always room for creative expression, for novelty. Underrepresentation of non-European endangered languages notwithstanding, this was an insightful read and it compelled me to explore some of the featured poets' other work.
tessaf's review
4.0
I'm not going to say a couple of the translation methods didn't make me flinch. But it was fascinating.
roseofoulesfame's review
4.0
I saw this at a language fair last year and somehow refrained from buying it immediately.
I bought it the very next day though.
Zero regrets.
This is a fascinating collection of poems from all over the world, written and/or recited by native or near-native speakers and accompanied by translations into English. Each poem is also accompanied by a quick explanation of where the language is spoken, what its current status is (critically endangered, vulnerable, etc.) and which other languages it resembles (if any), as well as giving a bit of backstory regarding both the poets and the people translating their work.
As a word-nerd I must admit I enjoyed puzzling out what the words meant in the original poems as much as I enjoyed reading the translations! Is my translator brain ever off duty, that is what we must ask ourselves.
Anyway, protect minority languages y'all.
I bought it the very next day though.
Zero regrets.
This is a fascinating collection of poems from all over the world, written and/or recited by native or near-native speakers and accompanied by translations into English. Each poem is also accompanied by a quick explanation of where the language is spoken, what its current status is (critically endangered, vulnerable, etc.) and which other languages it resembles (if any), as well as giving a bit of backstory regarding both the poets and the people translating their work.
As a word-nerd I must admit I enjoyed puzzling out what the words meant in the original poems as much as I enjoyed reading the translations! Is my translator brain ever off duty, that is what we must ask ourselves.
Anyway, protect minority languages y'all.
braincabbage's review
4.0
If I was only rating the poems in this anthology, this would be a three-star read. However, the extra information and educational impact of these glimpses into small, mostly little-known languages was so fascinating and important.
All in all I really enjoyed this reading experience, and found the multicultural, multilingual variety incredibly captivating. I especially want to read more Afghani landay poems, which I would have probably never heard of if it weren't for this book.
All in all I really enjoyed this reading experience, and found the multicultural, multilingual variety incredibly captivating. I especially want to read more Afghani landay poems, which I would have probably never heard of if it weren't for this book.
natchewwy's review against another edition
4.0
Sat down to read this for poetry month. I'm always a little leery of language documentation for the sake of scientific inquiry/linguistic ecology/the historical record—however well intentioned, it isolates the spoken words from their speakers and tends to center language death as a tragedy for Humanity's Linguistic Diversity, instead of a symptom of cultural and communal death. "we discovered that we ourselves were the language" Valzhyna Mort writes (trans. from Belarusian) in this collection, which does an admirable job of keeping the focus on the speakers of endangered languages, and what their words mean to them. Every poem is accompanied by an English translation, an overview of the language, a bio of the poet, and a short but thoughtful close read of some of the poem. Poetry is a wonderful genre for documentation because it exposes the inadequacy of recorded grammars that attempt to comprehensively catalogue dying languages—there's always room for creative expression, for novelty. Underrepresentation of non-European endangered languages notwithstanding, this was an insightful read and it compelled me to explore some of the featured poets' other work.
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