A Different Stripe

A Poem by Hungarian Writer Tibor Déry

In getting together our edition of Tibor Déry's (that's Déry Tibor to you Magyarphiles) novel Niki we came across some poems of his, published in the short-lived Dokumentum, a journal he helped edit. After dropping some not-so-subtle hints to poet and translator George Szirtes (who has written the introduction to Niki) that it would be wonderful to read the poetry in English, he graciously had a go at translating one or two. We should mention that the poems would not have been found had they not been digitized by the New York Public Library.

MY GOLDFISH

born into sunlight
they swam around her silent
one spring night they entered my heart

the well of resurrection!
their golden ferries glittered through my breast
look at them dancing!
years march on monotonous in the garden greenhouse
here and there a face leans towards me
and sheds its tears

feed my goldfish
the wind moans outside
day’s leaden back casts its shadow across us
days pass
who will unearth time’s infinite gifts from my body?

in the dust of the street…
there sprawl the lost nights
gilded wooden statues of beggars march along the boulevard
everywhere darkness
the stars above them: the purple-scaled highway of my fish

George Szirtes webpage and blog


Niki: The Story of a Dog
Tibor Déry

Guest Post: Tips on getting small press books into your local libraries

A few months ago I made a NYRB display at the library where I work and was shocked at how few titles we had. I have no power over what books get ordered (though I make lots of suggestions!), so unfortunately I can't just wave my hand and make it change.  Fear not fellow readers, there is hope.

One of the best ways to get NYRB Classics into libraries is for patrons to request them.  Librarians responsible for catalogue development are primarily concerned with three things: circulation numbers, budget, and shelf space.  Most ideas for purchases come from reviews in major publications like The New York Times Book Review or Library Journal, but patron book requests are also taken into account.  It’s through these requests that small press books can get onto library shelves.

Anarchist publisher Crimethinc has a printable list of their titles with all the information people need to request them at a library.  This list is sent out with every order, and it works.  Without any advertising or reviews in major publications Crimethinc books are found in libraries all over the country (according to Worldcat their best selling title is in over 180 libraries).

The non-profit imprint Dalkey Archive Press works with libraries to offer discounted prices and even donates their titles to libraries.  While donation is out of reach for most small presses, they can develop special pricing for public libraries.  This is getting more and more important as library book budgets shrink.

Once small press books are in libraries, it’s up to library workers to get them into the hands of patrons, but we can worry about getting them to fly off the shelves once we get them on the shelves.

—Don Antenen

Update: We had inaccurately described Mr. Antenen as a librarian in the original post. We apologize for the misidentification.

all illustrations:
lantern slides from the New York Public Library's digital collection
via flickr's the Commons

Vegetarian Shark Ravages North-East

 Just off a trifecta of panels at the Left Forum—including a well-attended Victor Serge read-in—Richard Greeman of the Victor Serge Foundation is on a speaking tour of New York and Connecticut. From his press release:

Beware of Vegetarian Sharks!
Radical Rants and Internationalist Essays (Illustrated)
by Richard Greeman
Just published on line

(tour details below)

The art of double-speak

Even Frank Luntz hasn't come up with anything this diabolical (from a note in the forthcoming Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov):  

'Self-taxation' was the official name for a ruinously heavy tax imposed on private farmers, often exacted from them by force.

A Meaningful Life

If you missed the Community Bookstore event for A Meaningful Life, L.J. Davis's dark comedy about gentrification in Brooklyn, we hope you'll join us tomorrow, April 14th, for the book's second and last event.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 7:00 pm
BookCourt
163 Court Street
Brooklyn, NY
(718) 875-3677

Author L.J. Davis will read from his newly reissued 1971 novel, A Meaningful Life. Plus, L.J. and Jonathan Lethem, who wrote the introduction, will discuss the book and the borough.

And, if you missed Eric Koningsberg's profile of L.J. in The New York Times, you can still read it here.

Commonplace: From the bathroom wall

 "The Professor was silly enough to think that if doctors had to pass examinations before they could cut out his appendix, then members of parliament ought to pass examinations before they could rule his life."

—T.H. White, Mistress Masham's Repose, p. 155

Photographed in the bathroom of Community Bookstore in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where L.J. Davis read to a standing-room-only crowd last night. If you missed it, swing by Book Court on April 14th. Davis will read from A Meaningful Life and then discuss the book with Jonathan Lethem.

L.J. Davis and Jonathan Lethem at Bookcourt in Brooklyn 4/14