Asymptote global literature

Translation makes paper liquid, as Uljana Wolf says, one writer's uniquely memorable images now able to spread outside their original borders. Among the vivid tableaux conjured up in this newest edition of Asymptote: a mother in Péter Nádas' play calling her son's father, "Just a well-hung angel, my dear," a tiger leaning over you as you wake in Yoko Tawada's Soulflight, or the lovelorn poems of Propertius found graffitied on the walls of Pompeii. Clicking through the treasures on this issue's pages (and not to mention our brand-new blog!) means trying to hold on to many such newly liquescent moments and phrases. (Video trailer here.)

		"Countless the creatures churned from the cosmic ocean." —Aandal Enduring images are also transmitted through rhythm,  as we can hear in the profoundly erotic chants of  Aandaal, a 9th-century Tamil saint. Just as her desire still sings in translation, so sound strong the   contemporary poets in our English-Language Feature: whether long-established, "Hushabye we paid the  money man/To turn on the light so we can see/The  blessed light of Calvary," quoth Wanda Coleman; or  proudly emerging, "And she tastes (when she talks)  like she fucks (like my wife)," from Danniel  Schoonebeek's poem. Time crowds our skulls, as poet Wong Leung-wo has it, and works of literature certainly resound through time as well, conveying childhood  memories and anxieties, as we see in our first  translation from the Mexican language of Zapotec  Natalia Toledo), in the heartrending memoirs of  Argentine ultraist Norah Lange, and in the übercreepy coming-of-age tale by Gail Hareven (Israel)—illustrated  with great charm by guest artist Miko Yu. More