Tag: Irvine Welsh

Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

Uit: Trainspotting

“The taxi did a u-turn and sped up the Walk.
–See whit yuv done now, ya big-moothed cunt. Next time one ay us ur walkin hame oan oor Jack Jones, wi git hassle fi these wee radges. Ah wisnae chuffed at Sick Boy.–Yir no feart ay they wee fuckin saps ur ye?
This cunt’s really gittin ma fuckin goat. –Aye! Aye ah fuckin am, if ah’m oan ma tod n ah git set oan by a fuckin squad ay shell- suits! Ye think ah’m Jean-Claude Van Fuckin Damme? Fuckin doss cunt, so ye are Simon. Ah called him ‘Simon’ rather than ‘Si’ or ‘Sick Boy’ tae emphasise the seriousness ay what ah wis sayin.
–Ah want tae see Mother Superior n ah dinnae gie a fuck aboot any cunt or anything else. Goat that? He pokes his lips wi his forefinger, his eyes bulging oot at us. –Simone wants tae see Mother Superior. Watch ma fuchn lips. He then turns and stares intae the back ay the taxi driver, willing the cunt tae go faster while nervously beating oot a rhythm oan his thighs.
–One ay they cunts wis a McLean. Dandy n Chancey’s wee brar, ah sais.
–Wis it fuck, he sais, but he couldnae keep the anxiety oot ay his voice. –Ah ken the McLeans.
Chancey’s awright.
–No if ye take the pish oot ay his brar, ah sais.
He wis tahn nae mair notice though. Ah stoaped harassing him, knowing thit ah wis jist wastin ma energy. His silent suffering through withdrawal now seemed so intense that thir wis nae wey that ah could add, even incrementally, tae his misery.
‘Mother Superior’ wis Johnny Swan; also kent as the White Swan, a dealer whae wis based in Tollcross and covered the Sighthill and Wester Hailes schemes. Ah preferred tae score fi Swanney, or his sidekick Raymie, rather than Seeker n the Muirhoose-Leith mob, if ah could.
Better gear, usually. Johnny Swan hud once been a really good mate ay mines, back in the auld days. We played fitba thegither fir Porty Thistle. Now he wis a dealer. Ah remember um saying tae us once: Nae friends in this game. Jist associates.
Ah thought he wis being harsh, flippant and show-oafy, until ah got sae far in. Now ah ken precisely what the cunt meant. Johnny wis a junky as well as a dealer. Ye hud tae go a wee bit further up the ladder before ye found a dealer whae didnae use. We called Johnny ‘Mother Superior’ because ay the length ay time he’d hud his habit.
Ah soon started tae feel fuchng shan n aw. Bad cramps wir beginning tae hit us as we mounted the stairs tae Johnny’s gaff. Ah wis dripping like a saturated sponge, every step bringing another gush fae ma pores. Sick Boy wis probably even worse, but the cunt was beginning no tae exist fir us. Ah wis only aware ay him slouching tae a halt oan the banister in front ay us, because he wis blocking ma route tae Johnny’s and the skag. He wis struggling fir breath, haudin grimly oantay the railing, looking as If he wis gaunnae spew intae the stairwell.
–Awright Si? ah sais irritably, pissed off at the cunt fir haudin us up.
He waved us away, shaking his heid and screwing his eyes up. Ah sais nae mair. Whin ye feel like he did, ye dinnae want tae talk or be talked at. Ye dinnae want any fuckin fuss at aw. Ah didnae either. Sometimes ah think that people become junkies just because they subconsciously crave a wee bit ay silence.´

 

Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

 

De Amerikaanse dichteres Kay Ryan werd geboren op 27 september 1945 in San Jose, California. Zie ook alle tags voor Kay Ryan op dit blog.

Album

Death has a life
of  its own. See
how its album
has grown in
a year and how
the sharp blot of it
has softened
till those could
almost be shadows
behind the
cherry blossoms
in this shot.
In fact you
couldn’t prove
they’re not.

 

All Your Horses

Say when rain
cannot make
you more wet
or a certain
thought can’t
deepen and yet
you think it again:
you have lost
count. A larger
amount is
no longer a
larger amount.
There has been
a collapse; perhaps
in the night.
Like a rupture
in water (which
can’t rupture
of course). All
your horses
broken out with
all your horses.

 

De Niagara River

Alsof
de rivier
een vloer is, plaatsen we
er onze tafel en stoelen
op, eten, en
voeren een gesprek.
Terwijl hij langstrekt,
merken we – zo
kalm alsof
eetkamer schilderijen
worden vervangen –
de veranderende scènes op
langs de kust. Wij
weten het, wij
weten dat dit de
Niagara River is, maar
het is moeilijk te onthouden
wat dat betekent.

 

Vertaald door Frans Roumen

 

Kay Ryan (San Jose, 27 september 1945)

 

Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 27e september ook mijn blog van 27 september 2018 en eveneens mijn blog van 27 september 2015 deel 2 en eveneens deel 3.

Dolce far niente, Lydia Sigourney, Irvine Welsh, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Ignace Schretlen, Nate Pritts

 

Dolce far niente

 

 
Indian Summer door Victor Coleman Anderson (1882 – 1937), z.j.

 

Indian Summer

When was the redman’s summer?
When the rose
Hung its first banner out? When the gray rock,
Or the brown heath, the radiant kalmia clothed?
Or when the loiterer by the reedy brooks
Started to see the proud lobelia glow
Like living flame? When through the forest gleamed
The rhododendron? Or the fragrant breath
Of the magnolia swept deliciously
Over the half-laden nerve?
No. When the groves
In fleeting colours wrote their own decay,
And leaves fell eddying on the sharpen’d blast
That sang their dirge; when o’er their rustling bed
The red deer sprang, or fled the shrill-voiced quail,
Heavy of wing and fearful; when, with heart
Foreboding or depress’d, the white man mark’d
The signs of coming winter: then began
The Indian’s joyous season. Then the haze,
Soft and illusive as a fairy dream,
Lapp’d all the landscape in its silvery fold.
The quiet rivers, that were wont to hide
‘Neath shelving banks, beheld their course betray’d
By the white mist that o’er their foreheads crept,
While wrapp’d in morning dreams, the sea and sky
Slept ‘neath one curtain, as if both were merged
In the same element. Slowly the sun,
And all reluctantly, the spell dissolved,
And then it took upon its parting wing
A rainbow glory.
Gorgeous was the time
Yet brief as gorgeous. Beautiful to thee,
Our brother hunter, but to us replete
With musing thoughts in melancholy train.
Our joys, alas! too oft were woe to thee.
Yet ah! poor Indian! whom we fain would drive
Both from our hearts, and from thy father’s lands,
The perfect year doth bear thee on its crown,
And when we would forget, repeat thy name

 


Lydia Sigourney (1 september 1791 – 10 juni 1865)
Norwich, Connecticut, de geboorteplaats van Lydia Sigourney op een oude foto

 

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

Uit: Glue

“Davie moved into the hall with the stealthy caution of a trench soldier fearful of snipers. – Andrew, he shouted. His son thundered down the stairs, a wiry, charged life-force, sporting the same dark brown hair as Susan’s, but shorn to a minimalist crop, following Davie through to the living room. – Here eh is, he cheerfully announced for Susan’s benefit. Noting that she was studiously ignoring him, he turned to the boy and asked, – Ye still like it up in yir new room?
Andrew looked up at him and then at Susan. – Ah found a book ah never had before, he told them earnestly.
– That’s good, Susan said, moving over and picking a thread from the boy’s striped T-shirt.
Looking up at his father, Andrew asked, – When can ah get a bike, Dad?
– Soon, son, Davie smiled.
– You said when ah went tae school, Andrew said with great sincerity, his large dark eyes fixing on his father’s in a milder form of accusation than Susan’s.
– Ah did, pal, Davie conceded, – and it’s no long now.
A bike? Where was the money coming from for a bloody bike? Susan Galloway thought, shivering to herself as the blazing, sweltering summer sun beat in relentlessly, through the huge windows.
Terry Lawson
The First Day at School
Wee Terry and Yvonne Lawson sat with juice and crisps at a wooden table of the Dell Inn, in the concrete enclosure they called the beer garden. They were looking over the fence at the bottom of the yard, down the steep bank, contemplating the ducks in the Water of Leith. Within a few seconds awe turned to boredom; you could only look at ducks for so long, and Terry had other things on his mind. It had been his first day at school and he hadn’t enjoyed it. Yvonne would go next year. Terry said to her that it wasn’t very good and he’d been frightened but now he was with their Ma, and their Dad was there as well, so it was okay.
Their Ma and Dad were talking and they knew their Ma was angry.
– Well, they heard her ask him, – what is it yuv got tae say?
Terry looked up at his Dad who smiled and winked at him before turning back to address the boy’s mother. – No in front ay the bairns, he said coolly.”

 


Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

 

De Nederlandse dichter, performer, journalist en toneelschrijver Ko de Laat werd geboren op 27 september 1969 in Goirle. Zie ook alle tags voor Ko de Laat op dit blog.

 

Onomkeerbaar september

De scholen zijn nu állemaal begonnen
Het laatste staartje van vakantiepret
Maakt plaats voor de vertrouwde vaste tred
Plichtmatig wordt de weerzin overwonnen

Naar school of werk sjokt héél het peloton
Bij regen, hagel of de laatste zon

 

Onuitwisbaar wazig

Verbanden tussen nachtrust en geheugen
Zijn thans door onderzoekers blootgelegd
Wie langer slaapt onthoudt meer, wordt gezegd
Tenminste, voorzover geheugens deugen

Want hoe men het ook nameet of berekent
Het was voor men het wist vaak al vertekend

 

Monkey Business

Gebarentaal beheerst hij sowieso
En straks leert hij waarschijnlijk converseren
Zo blijft men een gorilla transformeren:
De vlees-noch-vis-noch-aap-noch-mens Koko

Totdat men horen kan of lip kan lezen:
“Rot op en laat mij een gorilla wezen!”

 

 
Ko de Laat (Goirle, 27 september 1969)

 

De Amerikaanse dichteres Kay Ryan werd geboren op 27 september 1945 in San Jose, California. Zie ook alle tags voor Kay Ryan op dit blog.

 

Repetition

Trying to walk
the same way
to the same store
takes high-wire
balance:
each step
not exactly
as before
risks chasms
of flatness.
One stumble
alone and
nothing
happens.
Few are
the willing
and fewer
the champions.

 

Why we must struggle

“If we have not struggled
as hard as we can
at our strongest
how will we sense
the shape of our losses
or know what sustains
us longest or name
what change costs us,
saying how strange
it is that one sector
of the self can step in
for another in trouble,
how loss activates
a latent double, how
we can feed
as upon nectar
upon need?”

 

 
Kay Ryan (San Jose, 27 september 1945)

 

De Nederlandse dichter, schrijver, kunstenaar en huisarts Ignace Schretlen werd geboren in Tilburg op 27 september 1952. Zie eveneens alle tags voor Ignace Schretlen op dit blog.

 

Haiku

Jonge narcissen
Fris op het venster, sneeuwwit
Halsreikend naar wie

 

Vrienden

Vrienden treft men op een bergweg
niet aan zee, noch op een ladder

nergens rechte lijnen en men weet,
dat zelfs cirkels niet bestaan

verweesd, verloren en in de verte
dekken wolken de bergpas af:

kennen planten een moment van sterven
hoe gaan dieren dood en hoe wij?

wie heeft ons tot dit tempo opgejaagd?
de huid weekt ziek los van vlees en bloed

nooit zullen wij onze moedertaal verleren
echt onze onbekende metgezel begrijpen

allengs verworden we tot contouren,
lossen op en trekken zielloos weg

wat valt er nu nog op het laatst te leren
anders dan dat zwijgen vele talen kent?

 

 
Ignace Schretlen (Tilburg, 27 september 1952)
Cover

 

De Amerikaanse dichter en letterkundige Nate Pritts werd geboren in Syracuse, New York, op 27 september 1974. Zie ook alle tags voor Nate Pritts op dit blog.

 

Human Pets

The tree uprooted. Sinister music.
Dangling, helpless, I find myself poised
for action when there is no clear warrant.

Impression is what’s important;
you should be aware that, at any second,
I could pounce into the thick of things,

I could explore the unknown with such
finesse & vigor that it would gladly yield up
its most secretest of secrets to me. Let me fly

through the pale green sky of forgetfulness
& you’d better believe all those hands
that make a clumsy grab for me will have

their fingers printed. I’ll know who’s
taking a swipe at me out of the clouds.
When my errant space pod crash lands

in your new life, watch me burn
the lovely vegetation to the ground, smoke
& cinder & regret wafting.

Night time is when I get like this, always
the most challenging time for me—trying to keep it all
together when I can’t even see myself.

 Yellow beams of light projected from an object called the sun
hold me in place; ditto the look of concern on your face.
Willingly, I entered into the giant glass container

of a life with you & you alone. My torment
is that I can see out. I build a ladder one ruin
at a time, each of the one million moments

of shame & rage I feel every day
taking me higher & higher, but never over
the walls I’ve trapped myself behind.

 

 
Nate Pritts (Syracuse, 27 september 1974)

 

Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 27e september ook mijn blog van 27 september 2017 en eveneens mijn blog van 27 september 2015 deel 2 en eveneens deel 3.

Irvine Welsh, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Esther Verhoef, Ignace Schretlen, Josef Škvorecký, Christian Schloyer, Tanja Kinkel, Edvard Kocbek

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

Uit:The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs

“She Came to Dance, 20 January 1980
– THIS IS THE fuckin Clash! The green-haired girl had screamed into the face of the flinty-eyed bouncer, who’d shoved her back into her seat. — And this is a fuckin cinema, he’d told her. It was the Odeon cinema, and the security personnel seemed determined to stop any dancing. But after the local band, Joseph K, had finished their set, the main act had come out all guns blazing, blasting out ‘Clash City Rockers’, and the crowd immediately surged down to the front of the house. The girl with the green hair scanned around for the bouncer, who was preoccupied, then sprang back up. For a while the security staff tried to stem the tide, but finally capitulated about halfway through the set, between ‘I Fought the Law’ and ‘(White Man) in Hammersmith Palais’. The crowd was lost in the thrashing noise; at the front of the house they bounced along in rapture, while those at the back climbed on to their seats to dance. The girl with green hair, now right at the front centre of the stage, seemed to be rising higher than the rest, or perhaps it was just her hair, and the way the strobes hit it, making it appear as if a spectacular emerald flame was bursting from her head. A few, only a few, were gobbing at the band and she was screaming at them to cut it out as he – her hero – had only just recovered from hepatitis. She’d been to the Odeon only a few times before, most recently to see Apocalypse Now, but it wasn’t like this and she could bet that it had never been. Her friend Trina was a few feet from her, the only other girl so near the front that she could almost smell the band. Taking a last gulp from the plastic Im Bru bottle she’d filled with snakebite, she killed it and let it fall to the sticky, carpeted floor. Her brain fizzed with the buzz of it working in tandem with the amphetamine sulphate she’d taken earlier. She roared the words of the songs as she leapt, working herself into a defiant frenzy, going to a place where she could almost forget what he had told her earlier that afternoon. Just after they’d made love when he’d gone so quiet and distant, his thin, wiry frame shivering on the mattress. — What’s up, Donnie? What is it? she’d asked him. — It’s all fucked, he’d said blankly. She told him not to be daft, everything was brilliant and the Clash gig was happening tonight, they’d been waiting for this for ages. Then he turned round and his eyes were moist and he looked like a child. It was then that her first and only lover had told her that he’d been fucking someone else earlier; right there on the mattress they shared every night, the place where they’d just made love. It had meant nothing; it was a mistake, he immediately claimed, panic rising in him as the extent of his transgression became apparent in her reaction.”

 

 
Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

Lees verder “Irvine Welsh, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Esther Verhoef, Ignace Schretlen, Josef Škvorecký, Christian Schloyer, Tanja Kinkel, Edvard Kocbek” →

Irvine Welsh, Ignace Schretlen, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2010 en eveneens alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

Uit: Skagboys

“We head oot and dive oantae a 16, bound fir Johnny’s pad at Tolcross. It’s a blindin hot day so we sit doonstairs at the back for a better view ay the passin fanny. Back top deck wi Begbie, tae intimidate wideos, back bottom wi Sick Boy tae leer at lassies. Life has its simple codes.
– This is gaunny be so much fun, Sick Boy says, and rubs his hands thegither. – Drugs are always fun. Do you believe in cosmic forces, destiny n aw that shite?
– Nup.
– Me neither, but bear one thing in mind: today was a ‘T’ day.
– What … ? ah ask, then it dawns on us. – Yir dictionary thingy.
– All will be revealed, he nods, then starts talking about heroin.
Smack’s the only thing ah huvnae done, ah’ve never even smoked or snorted it. And ah must confess that ah’m fuckin shitein it. Ah wis brought up tae believe that one joint ay hash would kill me. And, of course, it wis bullshit. Then one line ay speed. Then one tab ay acid; aw lies, spread by people hell-bent on self-extermination through booze and fags.
But heroin.
It’s crossing a line.
But as the boy said, anything once. And Sick Boy doesnae seem concerned, so ah bullshit tae keep ma front up. – Aye, ah cannae wait tae dae some horse.
– What? Sick Boy looks at me in horror as the bus growls up the hill. – What the fuck are you talking aboot, Renton? Horse? Dinnae say that in front ay yir dealer mate or he’ll laugh in yir face. Call it skag, for Papa John-Paul’s sake, he snaps, then stares oot at a short-skirted lassie meandering wi seductive intent up Lothian Road. – She’s a peach … far too carefree in bearing and expression tae be a baboon …
– Right … ah feebly respond.”

 
Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

Lees verder “Irvine Welsh, Ignace Schretlen, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer” →

Irvine Welsh, Ignace Schretlen, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Josef ¦kvorecký, Esther Verhoef

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2010 en eveneens alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

Uit: Trainspotting

„– Ah wisnae … ah protested.– Fling yir fuckin jaykit oan well!
At the Fit ay the Walk thir wir nae taxis. They only congregated here when ye didnae need them. Supposed tae be August, but ah’m fuckin freezing ma baws oaf here. Ah’m no sick yet, but it’s in the fuckin post, that’s fir sure.
– Supposed tae be a rank. Supposed tae be a fuckin taxi rank. Nivir fuckin git one in the  summer. Up cruising fat, rich festival cunts too fuckin lazy tae walk a hundred fuckin yards fae one poxy church hall tae another fir thir fuckin show. Taxi drivers. Money–grabbin bastards … Sick Boy muttered deliriously and breathlessly tae hissel, eyes bulging and sinews in his neck straining as his heid craned up Leith Walk.
At last one came. There were a group ay young guys in shellsuits n bomber jaykits whae’d been standin thair longer than us. Ah doubt if Sick Boy even saw them. He charged straight oot intae the middle ay the Walk screaming: – TAXI!
Hi! Whit’s the fuckin score? One guy in a black, purple and aqua shell–suit wi a flat–top asks.
Git tae fuck. We wir here first, Sick Boy sais, opening the taxi door. – Thir’s another yin comin. He gestured up the Walk at an advancing black cab.
– Lucky fir youse. Smart cunts,
– Fuck off, ya plukev–faced wee hing oot. Git a fuckin ride! Sick Boy snarled as we piled intae the taxi.
– Tollcross mate, ah sais tae the driver as gob splattered against the side windae.
– Square go then smart cunt! C’moan ya crappin bastards! the shell–suit shouted. The taxi driver wisnae amused. He looked a right cunt. Maist ay them do. The stamp–peyin self–employed ur truly the lowest form ay vermin oan god’s earth.”

 
Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

Lees verder “Irvine Welsh, Ignace Schretlen, Ko de Laat, Kay Ryan, Josef ¦kvorecký, Esther Verhoef” →

Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Ignace Schretlen, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2010 en eveneens alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

 

Uit: Filth

 

 “We wait and think and doubt and hate. How does it make you feel? The overwhelming feeling is rage. We hate ourself for being unable to be other than what we are. Unable to be better. We feel rage. The feelings must be followed. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an ideologue or a sensualist, you follow the stimuli thinking that they’re your signposts to the promised land. But they are nothing of the kind. What they are is rocks to navigate the past, each on your brush against, ripping you a little more open and they are always more on the horizon. But you can’t face up to the that, so you force yourself to believe the bullshit of those you instinctively know are liars and you repeat those lies to yourself and to others, hoping that by repeating them often and fervently enough you’ll attain the godlike status we accord those who tell the lies most frequently and most passionately. But you never do, and even if you could, you wouldn’t value it, you’d realise that nobody believes in heroes any more. We know that they only want to sell us something we don’t really want and keep from us what we really do need. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we’re getting in touch with our condition at last. It’s horrible how we always die alone, but no worse than living alone.”

(…)

 

“All I can think about is that boy’s skull, bashed in, the way his head was caved in and how it wasn’t like a heid at all, just like a broken silly puppet face, about how when you destroy something, when you brutalise it, it always looks warped and disfigured and slightly unreal and unhuman and that’s what makes it easier for you to go on brutalising it, go on fucking it and hurting it and mashing until you’ve destroyed it completely, proving that destruction is natural in the human spirit, that nature has devices to enable us to destroy, to make it easier for us; a way of making righteous people who want to act do things without the fear of consequence, a way of making us less than human, as we break the laws . .”

 

 

 

Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

Lees verder “Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Ignace Schretlen, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer” →

Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Ignace Schretlen, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2010 en eveneens alle tags voor Irvine Welsh op dit blog.

 

Uit: Glue

“Davie briskly shook his head. – Naw, take it while ye can get it. This is Scotland, mind, it’s no gaunny last. Taking in a deep breath, Davie picked up the table, recommencing his arduous struggle towards the kitchen. It was a tricky, bugger: a smart new Formica-topped job which seemed to constantly shift its weight and spill all over the place. Like wrestling wi a fuckin crocodile, he thought, and sure enough, the beast snapped at his fingers forcing him to withdraw them quickly and suck on them as the table clattered to the floor.

– Sh … sugar, Davie cursed. He never swore in front of women. Certain talk was awright for the pub, but no in front of a woman. He tiptoed over to the cot in the corner. The baby still slept soundly.

– Ah telt ye ah’d gie ye a hand wi that Davie, yir gaunny huv nae fingers and a broken table the wey things are gaun, Susan warned him. She shook her head slowly, looking over to the crib. – Surprised ye dinnae wake her.

Picking up her discomfort, Davie said, – Ye dinnae really like that table, dae ye?

Susan Galloway shook her head again. She looked past the new kitchen table, and saw the new three-piece suite, the new coffee table and new carpets which had mysteriously arrived the previous day when she’d been out at her work in the whisky bonds.

– What is it? Davie asked, waving his sore hand in the air. He felt her stare, open and baleful. Those big eyes of hers.

– Where did ye get this stuff, Davie?

He hated when she asked him things like that. It spoiled everything, drove a wedge between them. It was for all of them he did what he did; Susan, the baby, the wee fellay. – Ask no questions, ah’ll tell ye no lies, he smiled, but he couldn’t look at her, as unsatisfied himself with this retort as he knew she would be. Instead, he bent down and kissed his baby daughter on the cheek.

Looking up, he wondered aloud, – Where’s Andrew? He glanced at Susan briefly.

Susan turned away sourly. He was hiding again, hiding behind the bairns.”

 


Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

Lees verder “Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Ignace Schretlen, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer” →

Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2010.

 

Uit: Skagboys

“The copper stares at us in utter contempt. Nae wonder; aw he sees in front ay um is this mingin cunt, twitchin n spazzin oan this hard seat in the interview room. -Ah’m oan the program, ah tell um. -Check if ye like. Ah’m aw seek cause they nivir gied us enough methadone. They sais they hud tae fine-tune ma dosage. Check wi the lassie at the clinic if ye dinnae believe us.

-Boo-fucking-hoo, he sais, a mean expression oan his face. -Why am I not tearing up on your behalf, my sweet, sweet friend?

This cunt has cold black eyes set in a white face. If he didnae huv a dark pudding-basin haircut and his neb wis bigger, he’d be like one ay Moira and Jimmy’s budgies. The other polisman, a louche, slightly effeminate-looking blonde boy, is playing the benign role. -Just tell us who gives you that stuff, Mark. Come on pal, give us some names. You’re a good lad, far too sensible tae get mixed up in aw this nonsense, he shakes his heid and then looks up at me, lip curled doon thoughfully, -Aberdeen University, no less.

-But if ye check yi’ll find that ah’m oan the program…at the clinic likes.

-Bet these student birds bang like fuck! In they halls ay residence. It’ll be shaggin aw the time in thair, eh pal, the Pudding Basin Heided Cunt goes.

-Just one name, Mark. C’mon pal, begs Captain Sensible.

-Ah telt ye, ah say, as sincerely as ah kin, -ah see this boy up at the bookies, ah jist ken him as Olly. Dinnae even know if that’s his right name. Gen up. The staff at the clinic’ll confirm-

-Ah suppose prison’s like the halls ay residence, apart fae one thing, Pudding Basin goes, -no much chance ay a ride thair. At least, he laughs, -no the sort ay ride ye’d want, anywey!”

 


Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

Lees verder “Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Christian Schloyer” →

Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef, Louis Auchincloss, William Empson, Bernat Manciet, Edvard Kocbek, Michael Denis,Tanja Kinkel, Wacław Rolicz-Lieder, Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Grazia Deledda

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: Trainspotting

 “The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the telly, tryin no tae notice the cunt. He wis bringing me doon. Ah tried tae keep ma attention oan the Jean–Claude Van Damme video.

As happens in such movies, they started oaf wi an obligatory dramatic opening. Then the next phase ay the picture involved building up the tension through introducing the dastardly villain and sticking the weak plot thegither. Any minute now though, auld Jean–Claude’s ready tae git doon tae some serious swedgin. – Rents. Ah’ve goat tae see Mother Superior, Sick Boy gasped, shaking his heid.

Aw, ah sais. Ah wanted the radge tae jist fuck off ootay ma visage, tae go oan his ain, n jist leave us wi Jean–Claude. Oan the other hand, ah’d be gitting sick tae before long, and if that cunt went n scored, he’d haud oot oan us. They call urn Sick Boy, no because he’s eywis sick wi junk withdrawal, but because he’s just one sick cunt.

– Let’s fuckin go, he snapped desperately. – Haud oan a second. Ah wanted tae see Jean–Claude smash up this arrogant fucker. If we went now, ah wouldnae git tae watch it. Ah’d be too fucked by the time we goat back, and in any case it wid probably be a few days later. That meant ah’d git hit fir fuckin back charges fi the shoap oan a video ah hudnae even goat a deck at.

– Ah’ve goat tae fuckin move man! he shouts, standing up. He moves ower tae the windae and rests against it, breathing heavily, looking like a hunted animal. There’s nothing in his eyes but need.

Ah switched the box oaf at the handset. – Fuckin waste. That’s aw it is, a fuckin waste, ah snarled at the cunt, the fuckin irritating bastard. He flings back his heid n raises his eyes tae the ceiling. Ah’ll gie ye the money tae git it back oot. Is that aw yir sae fuckin moosey–faced aboot? Fifty measley fuckin pence ootay Ritz! This cunt has a wey ay makin ye feel a real petty, trivial bastard. – That’s no the fuckin point, ah sais, but withoot conviction. – Aye. The point is ah’m really fuckin sufferin here, n ma socalled mate’s draggin his feet deliberately, lovin every fuckin 4 minute ay it! His eyes seem the size ay fitba’s n look hostile, yet pleadin at the same time; poignant testimonies tae ma supposed betrayal. If ah ever live long enough tae huv a bairn, ah hope it never looks at us like Sick Boy does. The cunt is irresistible oan this form.”

 welsh

Irvine Welsh (Edinburg, 27 september 1958)

 

De Amerikaanse dichteres Kay Ryan werd geboren op 27september 1945 in San Jose, California. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Atlas

Extreme exertion
isolates a person
from help,
discovered Atlas.
Once a certain
ratio collapses,
shoulder-to-burden
there is so little
others can do:
they can’t
lend a hand
with Brazil
and not stand
on Peru.

 

The Pieces That Fall To Earth

One could
almost wish
they wouldn’t;
they are so
far apart,
so random.
One cannot
wait, cannot
abandon waiting.
The three or
four occasions
of their landing
never fade.
Should there
be more, there
will never be
enough to make
a pattern
that can equal
the commanding
way they matter.

ryan

Kay Ryan (San Jose, 27 september 1945)

 

De Tsjechische schrijver en uitgever Josef Škvorecký werd geboren op 27 september 1924 in Náchod. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: When Eve Was Naked

„From the Diary of Josef Machane, grade one pupil
at the elementary school for boys at K.

Before I started going to school, Mother read to me every night at bedtime, to help me fall asleep. She would turn on the coloured glass lamp by my bed, put on her pince-nez, and read fairy tales. I really hated sleeping, but I liked listening to the stories: there was a wicked witch who ate children and a rotten stepmother who poked out her stepchildren’s eyes, and then when the prince was betrothed to the prettiest of the children, she (the heroine) chopped off both her stepmother’s arms and also one leg. Those fairy tales frightened me so much that I couldn’t fall asleep, which was why Mother had to keep reading on and on, until she fell asleep.

But alas, those wonderful times were soon to be no more. I had to start grade one at the elementary school for boys. I didn’t want to, but they made me. Our teacher, Mrs. Rehakova, taught us reading, and now, as Mother was turning on the lamp she would say to me, “Soon I won’t have to read to you any longer, Joey, because in no time you’ll learn how, and then you’ll be able to read quietly to yourself.” But Iliked having Mother read to me, because she was pretty and had a scratchy voice that helped me to stay awake when she read me the story about Budulinek, the boy who gobbled up everything he could find in the pantry, but was still hungry and then became a cannibal. So I decided not to learn how to read, so that Mother would have to go on reading bedtime stories to me every night. I kept my resolution steadfastly, and at midterm I got a failing grade in reading from Mrs. Rehakova. My father got very mad.

“A failing grade in such an elementary subject!” His voice was so loud that it shook the chandelier, which was also made of coloured glass. “Even Vozenil, the poor widow’s son who comes to our house at least twice a week for lunch, managed a D minus, but look at this! My own son’s report!” He stopped shouting and began removing his belt, then bent me over his knee and strapped me hard.“

Škvorecký

Josef Škvorecký (Náchod, 27 september 1924)

 

De Nederlandse schrijfster Esther Verhoef-Verhallen werd geboren in ’s-Hertogenbosch op 27 september 1968. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: Erken mij

„Ik beef ongecontroleerd over mijn hele lichaam en ik voel me koortsig, doodmoe. Uitgeput bijna. Te moe om mijn spullen te pakken en het hotel te verlaten, zelfs te moe om te huilen. Of is het apathie? Minuten gaan voorbij, waarin ik probeer me te concentreren op mijn ademhaling en niet meer in staat ben tot meer dan dat. Dan loop ik de badkamer in, draai de stop van de jacuzzi dicht en zet de kranen open. Uit een mandje op een glazen planchet pak ik een chick uitziend flesje douchegel, Hermés. De inhoud ruikt naar sinaasappel. Ik haal de rest van de flesjes ook uit het mandje en spuit ze allemaal leeg in het enorme bad. De brede waterstraal maakt er een dikke. Romige schuimlaag van.“

 verhoef

Esther Verhoef (‘s-Hertogenbosch, 27 september 1968)

 

De Amerikaanse schrijver Louis Stanton Auchincloss werd geboren op 27 september 1917 in Lawrence, New York. Louis Auchincloss overleed op 26 januari van dit jaar op 92-jarige leeftijd. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: The Young Apollo and Other Stories

„The Young Apollo I have decided to put my thoughts about Lionel Manning together in this memorandum. I have to make up my mind, and soon, whether or not I shall accede to Senator Mannings request that I compose a short life of his son, Lionel, or “Lion” as we elders used to call him. It is now five years since Lion died of heart failure, aged thirty-one, in 1913, just before the outbreak of the long and terrible war that has cast the stain of doubt over the ideals we thought our boys were fighting for, as seemingly exemplified in the golden image of my young friend. I use the word “young” more in contrast to my own seventy summers than to emphasize a life so cut short, for it was characteristic of Lion in the matter of friendship to take no account of age, which endeared him to many of my contemporaries. Perhaps he offered us the illusion of some kind of life after death. There is a cynical side of my old crusty bachelor self that whispers that it may have been just as well that Lion died when he did. After all, there is something fine and noble in an early demise. We can always now see him in a halo of glory, with his gleaming blond hair, his laughing gray- blue eyes, his gracefully molded features, his splendid muscular torso; we can hear his excited tones voicing his high principles; we can feel that he has taken his proper place in the gallant and in- spiring company of the slain English friends whom he met as a Rhodes scholar. Dont we glimpse through the darkness of today the broad green lawn of an Edwardian garden party and wonderful young men in blazers and white flannels talking of the great things they would do in a future they would never have? The wrong people have survived this war.

Auchincloss.jpg

Louis Auchincloss (27 september 1917 – 26 januari 2010)
Portret door Everett Raymond Kinstler, 2001

 

De Engelse dichter en criticus William Empson werd geboren op 27 september 1906  in Howden, Yorkshire. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Missing Dates

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.
It is not the effort nor the failure tires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is not your system or clear sight that mills
Down small to the consequence a life requires;
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

They bled an old dog dry yet the exchange rills
Of young dog blood gave but a month’s desires.
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is the Chinese tombs and the slag hills
Usurp the soil, and not the soil retires.
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

Not to have fire is to be a skin that shrills.
The complete fire is death. From partial fires
The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

It is the poems you have lost, the ills
From missing dates, at which the heart expires.
Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills.

empson.jpg

William Empson (27 september 1906 – 15 april 1984)
Empson staande rechts, 2e van rechts George Orwell, voor de microfoon T. S. Eliot.
Voor de BBC radio in 1941

 

De Occitaanse dichter en schrijver Bernat Manciet werd geboren op 27 september 1923 in Sabres. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

L’enterrament a Sabres (Fragment)

Le Seigneur me laboure au brabant
il m’ouvre comme une grande chevaine
mon soleil laisse fuir ses graines de nuit
mon soleil va germer – je m’y perds
Mais toi qui donnes l’élan au seigle
aux maisons et à la longue acclamation des pluies
sur les sillons en tous genres
au murmure noir du populaire
regarde donc ma conscience ouverte en toutes ces pulsations blanches
c’est comme un vautour de plumes blanches
d’où me viennent ces hectares enfantés ?
mon âme c’est ta foudre d’acétylène
éclaire-moi ces lointains l’un derrière l’autre
afin que je te voie
éclaire-toi comme la foudre discrète
ne te cache pas comme ça
j’ai peut-être pêché mais pour savoir si tu es juste
ce temps ce temps va changer
dis-moi Seigneur si je fais encore peur
à l’heure du boulanger
les morts tu sais ne servent pas à grand chose
pour Te parler
mais le seul vif du vif de ce four retiré
Il n’appartient qu’à toi dans la peur
de faire ce qu’il faut pour qu’en une Sabres éternelle
nous vivions à vif lorsque dansent sur place les jardins

manciet

Bernat Manciet (27 september 1923 – 3 juni 2005)

 

De Sloveense dichter, schrijver en essayist Edvard Kocbek werd in Sloveens Stiermarken geboren op 27 september 1904. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2006 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Church In The Slovenian Hills

Dappled tent
of weary pilgrims
the protective color
of the wise turtle
lichen of ancient nights
moss of placid forests
the silence of a butterfly —
duration achieved by
patience —
but it is not a sphinx
or a fish
or a fairy dragon
but a weary ox
with a thick head
leaning against the sky
opening at times
his kind eyes
for the fragrant hay
and the intoxicated incense
for a cock in the wind
and bronze bells
he still watches over
the holy manger
connecting existent things
with those not yet created;
there are no cracks
be still, heart
beat softly
so that the message
of the silent parchment
docs not fall
to dust.

kocbeck.jpg

Edvard Kocbek (27 september 1904 – 3 november 1981)
Edvard Kocbek monument in het Tivoli park in Ljubljana

 

De Oostenrijkse dichter, bibliograaf, bibliothecaris en vertaler Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis werd geboren in Schärding op 27 september 1729. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Sineds Morgenlied (Fragment)

Harfe! steig nieder. Der Tag erwachet. Sein Aug
Blicket aus Osten auf dich.
Hörst du der Schwalbe Geschäft? Sie lobet schon lang’
Oben am Giebel das Licht.
Hörst du den Morgenhauch
In dem Gezweig’ umher?
Harfe! steig nieder zu mir, begleite mein Lied!

Rein ist das Obergewölb der Schöpfung und blau,
Kühl ist der Odem der Luft.
Dünn ist der Schleier von Duft, der über der Flur
Trächtigem Busen sich dehnt.
Bunt ist der frische Thau,
Der durch den Schleier blitzt.
Hold ist der Morgen, und hold auch, Barde! für dich.

Als dich noch gestern zu Nacht dein Lager umfing,
Warst du des Morgens gewiß?
Konnte dein Leben nicht gleich der Rose verblüh’n,
Die sich nun nimmer erneut?
Aber Allvaters Huld
Läßt dich auch heute noch
Trinken vom Strome der Lust, der alles berauscht.

denis

 Michael Denis (27 september 1729 – 29 september 1800)

 

De Duitse dichter en schrijver Christian Schloyer werd geboren op 27 september 1976 in Erlangen. Schloyer behaalde een licentiaat in wijsbegeerte, germanistiek, theater en media studies in Erlangen. Hij was initiatiefnemer en mede-oprichter van de schrijversgroep en schrijfwerkplaats “Wortwerk” in Erlangen en Neurenberg (2000) en is redacteur van het literaire tijdschrift “Laufschrift” (sinds 2007).

an den angler in monets bildern

merk dir nie an den wolken (wenn
da ein meer ist – & da
ist ein meer) wo du die fisch
falle versenkst, merk dir immer das über
fließende blau (merks dir am
über) am fluss vom himmel
ins meer, merk dir genau wann
du das meer in den himmel
versenkst, merk dir kein meer
an den wolken (& es gibt diese
wolken – nicht alle sind blau) merk dir am besten
den fisch

 schloyer

 Christian Schloyer (Erlangen, 27 september 1976)

 

De Duitse schrijfster Tanja Kinkel werd geboren op 27 september 1969 in Bamberg. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2006. en ook mijn blog van 17 september 2007 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: Im Schatten der Königin

„Montag, 9. September 1560   G
Gott vergebe mir, aber das Erste, was ich dachte, als Robin Dudley mir sagte, seine Gemahlin sei tot, war: Warum jetzt? Für mich und die Meinen war es eine gute Zeit, und eine, auf die wir lange hatten warten müssen. Seit meine Base Jane vor vierzig Jahren John Dudley geheiratet hatte, waren wir miteinander im Rad der Fortuna gefangen gewesen und hatten uns nicht mehr lösen können, ganz gleich, ob es uns hoch oder abwärts trug. Ich wurde an Janes Hochzeitstag geboren, und sie hat das immer als Grund gesehen, sich wie eine Patin um mich zu kümmern. Da meine eigene Mutter von Fehlgeburt zu Fehlgeburt immer schwächer wurde und starb, noch ehe ich acht Jahre alt war, gab es lange Zeit niemanden, der für mich so wichtig war wie Jane. Es gab einen Lehrer, John Ferlingham, der mich bis aufs Blut quälte. Es bereitete ihm offensichtlich Spaß, bei jedem noch so kleinen Fehler, den ich im Unterricht machte, seinen Rohrstock auf meinem nackten Hintern tanzen zu lassen. Doch schlimmer als der Stock war es, seine Hände auch dort zu spüren. Ich wusste damals noch nichts davon, dass manche Männer es auch mit Jungen treiben wollten, aber mir war klar, dass irgendetwas nicht stimmte. Sosehr ich es auch versuchte, ich fand keine Ausrede, die mich davor schützte, nach der Schule zu ihm zu gehen, um meine Gebete mit ihm zu sprechen, wie er das wünschte. Mein Vater bemerkte nichts; eine Tracht Prügel zur rechten Zeit habe noch niemandem geschadet, so lautete seine Überzeugung, die er noch von seinem Urgroßvater hatte, der über Jahrzehnte Sheriff von Shropshire gewesen war. Ich wäre damals lieber gestorben, als ihm einzugestehen, dass ich nicht Angst vor den Schlägen hatte, sondern vor den Händen des Lehrers an meinem Arsch. Jane dagegen gab sich nicht damit zufrieden, meine wirkungslosen Ausreden als kindliche Bockigkeit abzutun. Es gelang ihr, die Wahrheit aus mir herauszulocken. »Das, was er tut, ist Unrecht«, sagte sie mit ernster Stimme. Ich spürte, dass ich den Tränen nahe war.“

kinkel

Tanja Kinkel (Bamberg, 27 september 1969)

 

De Poolse dichter en vertaler Wacław Koźma Damian Lieder,ook: Rolicz-Lieder werd geboren op 27 september 1866 in Warschau. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

LILIEN EIGENE BLUMEN

Ich schreite mit des prunkenden herzens gefühlen,
Nach traurigen lebens rötlichen gestaden ·
Ich schreite mit weisen gedanken auf marmorner stirne
Durch blinder erinnrungen zerfallene arkaden.

Bevor die sonne den himbeerfarbenen fächer
Entfaltet und meeresvögel den schrei erheben
Besteig ich voll sanftmut das gespenstische fahrzeug
Des schwarze segel zur insel der toten streben.

Mit angespielter leier zartem gesange
Entfach ich was von sterbender liebe noch glüht
Und segne diese duftende einzige wahre
Von der in der ferne ein herz ohne namen blüht.

 

Wach auf die du mich geleitet durch einsame jahre

Wach auf die du mich geleitet durch einsame jahre
Smaragdener stern meines lebens · wach auf!
Wach auf · du leuchtende sfinx · denn es läutet
Zum angelus droben vom turme der kirche – wach auf!
Die kräuter der schlummernden felder duften berückend
Und stimmen ertönen vom grünlichen wasser – wach auf!
Wach auf! dem auge des himmels fallen die lider
Vorm kusse der feierlichen nacht – wach auf!
Wach auf! meine arme erhoben sich zum gebete ·
Erhoben sich wie zwei gespenstische vögel – wach auf!

 

Vertaald door Stefan George

 rolicz

Wacław Rolicz-Lieder (27 september 1866 – 25 april 1912)
Warschau

 

De Franstalige Zwitserse schrijver en filosoof Henri-Frédéric Amiel werd geboren op 27 september 1821 in Genève. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: Journal (Vertaald door Mrs. Humphrey Ward)

„BERLIN, July 16. 1848.—There is but one thing needful—to possess God. All our senses, all our powers of mind and soul, all our external resources, are so many ways of approaching the divinity, so many modes of tasting and of adoring God. We must learn to detach ourselves from all that is capable of being lost, to bind ourselves absolutely only to what is absolute and eternal, and to enjoy the rest as a loan, a usufruct…. To adore, to understand, to receive, to feel, to give, to act: there is my law my duty, my happiness, my heaven. Let come what come will—even death. Only be at peace with self, live in the presence of God, in communion with Him, and leave the guidance of existence to those universal powers against whom thou canst do nothing! If death gives me time, so much the better. If its summons is near, so much the better still; if a half-death overtake me, still so much the better, for so the path of success is closed to me only that I may find opening before me the path of heroism, of moral greatness and resignation. Every life has its potentiality of greatness, and as it is impossible to be outside God, the best is consciously to dwell in Him.

BERLIN, July 20, 1848.—It gives liberty and breadth to thought, to learn to judge our own epoch from the point of view of universal history, history from the point of view of geological periods, geology from the point of view of astronomy. When the duration of a man’s life or of a people’s life appears to us as microscopic as that of a fly and inversely, the life of a gnat as infinite as that of a celestial body, with all its dust of nations, we feel ourselves at once very small and very great, and we are able, as it were, to survey from the height of the spheres our own existence, and the little whirlwinds which agitate our little Europe.

At bottom there is but one subject of study: the forms and metamorphoses of mind. All other subjects may be reduced to that; all other studies bring us back to this study.“

 Henri-Frederic_Amiel_1852

Henri-Frédéric Amiel (27 september 1821 – 11 mei 1881)

 

De Italiaanse schrijfster Grazia Deledda werd geboren op 27 september 1871 in Nuoro op Sardinië. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2007 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008 en ook mijn blog van 27 september 2009.

Uit: Ashes (Vertaald door Jan Kozma)

„And she thought of the little naked birds in the deserted nest; of her poor little neglected brothers; of Anania’s treasure; of midsummer night; and of her dead mother. She was afraid—she was sad, so sad that though she believed herself doomed to hell, she longed to die. Ol!’s son was born at Fonni in the springtime. He was called Anania by the advice of his godmother, the bandit’s widow. He passed his infancy at Fonni, and in his imagination never forgot that strange village perched on the mountain crest, like a slumbering vulture. During the long winter, Fonni was all snow and fog ; but with the spring grass invaded even the steep village street, where beetles slept among the big, sun-warmed cobblestones, and ants ran confidingly in and out of their holes. The meagre brown houses with their roofs of scandtde (wooden tiles overlapping each other like fish- scales), showed on the street side narrow black doorways, balconies of rotten wood, little stairs often vine-garlanded. The Basilica of the Martyrs, with its picturesque belfry, rose among the green oaks of the old Convent court, dominating the whole little town and carved against a sky of crystalline blue. Fabulous beauty reigned on all sides. The tall mountains of the Gennargentu, their luminous summits outlined as it were with silver,crowned the great Barbagia valley, which in a succession of immense green shells rose to the hill-topS; among these Fonni with its scaled roofs and stony streets, defied the thunder and the winds. The district was in winter almost deserted, for its numerous population of wandering shepherds (men strong as the blast, and astute as foxes) descended with their flocks to the warm southern plains….“

 deledda.jpg

Grazia Deledda (27 september 1871 – 15 augustus 1936)

 

Irvine Welsh, Kay Ryan, Josef Škvorecký, Esther Verhoef

De Schotse schrijver Irvine Welsh werd geboren op 27 september 1958 in Leith, Edinburgh. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008.

 

Uit: Porno

 “Croxy, sweating from exertion rather than from drug abuse for once in his life, struggles up the stairs with the last box of records as I collapse on the bed, gaping through a numb depression at the cream woodchip walls. This is my new home. One poky room, fourteen foot by twelve, with an attached hallway, kitchen and bath-room. The room contains a built-in wardrobe with no doors, my bed, and just about space for two chairs and a table. I couldn’t sit in here: prison would be better. I’d fucking well go back up to Edinburgh and swap Frank Begbie his cell for this frozen hovel.

In this confined space the stench of old fags from Croxy is suffocating. I’ve gone three weeks without a cigarette, but I’ve passive-smoked about thirty a day just from being in his proximity. – Thirsty work, eh, Simon? You coming down the Pepys for one? he asks, his enthusiasm seeming like a gloat, a calculated sneer at one Simon David Williamson’s reduced circumstances.

On one level it would be sheer fucking folly to go down Mare Street, to the Pepys, so that they can all snicker, ‘Back in Hackney, Simon?’ but, aye, company is what’s wanted. Ears must be bent. Steam has to be let off. Also, Croxy needs an airing. Trying to give up fags in his company is like trying to come off gear in a squat full of junkies.

– You’re lucky to get this place, Croxy tells me, as he helps me unload the boxes. Lucky my fuckin arse. I lie down on the bed and the whole joint shakes as the express train to Liverpool Street hurtles through Hackney Downs station, which is about one foot outside the kitchen window.

Staying put in my state of mind is even less of an option than going out, so we’re cagily descending the threadbare stairs, the carpet so worn that it’s as hazardous as the side of a glacier. Outside, sleet falls and there’s a dull aura of festive hangover everywhere, as we make our way towards Mare Street and the town hall. Croxy, with absolutely no sense of irony, is telling me that ‘Hackney’s a better manor than Islington, any roads. Islington’s been facked for years.’

You can be a crustie for too long. He should be designing websites in Clerkenwell or Soho, rather than organising squats and parties in Hackney. I put the cunt wise to the ways of the world, not because it’ll do him any good, but simply to stop nonsense like that filtering into the culture unchallenged. – No, it’s a step backwards, I say, blowing on my hands, my fingers as pink as uncooked pork sausages. – For a twenty-five-year-old crustie, Hackney’s fine. For an upwardly mobile thirty-six-year-old entrepreneur, I point at myself, it has to be Izzy. How can you give a class bit of fanny in a Soho bar an E8 address? “

irvine-welsh

Irvine Welsh (Edinburgh., 27 september 1958)

 

De Amerikaanse dichteres Kay Ryan werd geboren op 27september 1945 in San Jose, California. Zie ook mijn blog van 27 september 2008.

 

All Shall Be Restored

The grains shall be collected

from the thousand shores

to which they found their way,

and the boulder restored,

and the boulder itself replaced

in the cliff, and likewise

the cliff shall rise

or subside until the plate of earth

is without fissure. Restoration

knows no half measure. It will

not stop when the treasured and lost

bronze horse remounts the steps.

Even this horse will founder backward

to coin, cannon, and domestic pots,

which themselves shall bubble and

drain back to green veins in stone.

And every word written shall lift off

letter by letter, the backward text

read ever briefer, ever more antic

in its effort to insist that nothing

shall be lost.

 

 

Tenderness and Rot

Tenderness and rot

share a border.

And rot is an

aggressive neighbor

whose iridescence

keeps creeping over.

 

No lessons

can be drawn

from this however.

&
nbsp;

One is not

two countries.

One is not meat

corrupting.

 

It is important

to stay sweet

and loving.

 

KayRyan

Kay Ryan (San Jose, 27 september 1945)

 

 

De Tsjechische schrijver en uitgever Josef Škvorecký werd geboren op 27 september 1924 in Náchod. In 1943 deed hij eindexamen gymnasium. Omdat hogescholen en universiteiten in die tijd gesloten waren werd hij te werk gesteld in de Messerschmittwerke in Náchod. Na de oorlog begon hij aan een studie medicijnen in Praag, maar hij stapte al snel over op filosofie en anglistiek. In 1951 promoveerde hij. Na twee jaar militaire dienst ging hij werken als redacteur bij een staatsuitgeverij. Vanaf 1956 was hij redacteur bij het tijdschrift Světová literatura (Wereldliteratuur). Zijn eerder geschreven, maar in 1958 gepubliceerde debuutroman Zbabělci (Lafaards), veroorzaakte een schandaal en hij moest zijn baan opgeven. Toen het klimaat in de jaren zestig in Tsechslowakije verbeterde besloot hij beroepsschrijver te worden. In 1969 kon hij met een beurs een jaar naar Californië. Na afloop daarvan vestigde hij zich in Toronto waar hij aan de universiteit doceerde en met zijn vrouw de uitgeverij Sixty-eight Publishers oprichtte. Deze werd een Mekka voor verbannen schrijvers als Václav Havel, Milan Kundera en Ludvík Vaculík.

 

Uit: The End of Bull Mácha (Vertaald door Paul Wilson)

“Bull Mácha was leaning against the pedestrian railing at the corner of Vodičková Street and Wenceslas Square. The thin mist of a dank afternoon was slowly falling into the streets, blurring the features of the people trudging past him. The streets were coming alive with the bustle of a Sunday evening in the big city. Through the silvery grey veil of a wet autumn dusk the lights in the store windows and cafés were coming on, and the faces of the girls Bull Mácha’s impassive eyes were stalking in the crowd seemed to assume a new and mysterious charm under the misty, magic chiaroscuro of artificial lighting. Their hazy beauty touched him like a sudden pain, and in the depths of his heart he longed to draw close to them in a place where one could get closest of all: a café, one of the dance halls whose windows were already beginning to glow through the spidery mist that was slowly descending upon the city of Prague. It was the month of November in the year of our Lord 1953.

The figure leaning against the green railing, with his low, carefully combed coiffure turned to face the flaming entrance of the Soviet Book Shop, was in his own way a living human fossil. At the age of twenty-nine, František Mácha still referred to himself by his old nickname, Bull, in full “Gablik” Bull—Zoot-Suiter Bull—and he insisted that others do so too. And the vague notion of belonging to a grand conspiracy against something uncertain, a conspiracy he still felt a part of, was epitomized, even after all these years, by the title “Gablik.” It was an expression that ha
d stuck to him long ago, during the vogue for a popular American Civil War movie and its raffish, devil-may-care hero, Gable himself.

Now Gablik Bull Mácha was standing on the corner of Vodičková Street and Wenceslas Square, his heart lacerated by those winsome, cosmetically improved young faces, and by a strange, miserable nostalgia. He was alone, his hands stuffed into enormous pockets, and from the overcoat, cut strictly according to fashion with the sloping shoulders of a wine bottle and a collar as wide as an acolyte’s, a small head emerged, with a painstakingly fashioned coif in front and the sides slicked back into a ducktail. From that face two watery grey eyes stared: dull, bored, desperate. Bull had the heel of his left foot hooked over the bottom rung of the green railing, with his leg swung over as far as he could to the left, and he had pulled up his narrow trouser leg to avoid making a bulge at the knee, so that all might remark on his black-yellow-and-green-striped socks and gaze in wonder at the Gothic upturned toes of his Hungarian winklepickers. He was especially proud of those winklepickers with their snow-white soles flashing in the descending fog like crown jewels, cared for with boundless love and worn only on ceremonial occasions.”

Skvorecky2

Josef Škvorecký (Náchod, 27 september 1924)

 

De Nederlandse schrijfster Esther Verhoef-Verhallen werd geboren in ’s-Hertogenbosch op 27 september 1968. Haar eerste publicaties verschenen in 1989 en betroffen columns in het blad Flair. Tussen 1995 en 2005 schreef ze 50 informatieve boeken over huisdieren, waarvan er wereldwijd zo’n 8 miljoen over de toonbank gingen. Haar dierenboeken zijn vertaald in ruim 80 landen. Verhoef deed zelf grotendeels de fotografie voor haar boeken. Bekendheid bij het grote publiek verwierf zij echter pas toen zij thrillers begon te schrijven. In 2003 debuteerde ze met de thriller Onrust, die in 2004 werd genomineerd voor de Gouden Strop en spoedig daarna vertaald in het Duits. De opvolger Onder druk werd genomineerd voor de Gouden Strop 2005.

Op 7 april 2006 kwam haar eerste psychologische thriller Rendez-vous uit, die vrijwel meteen in de bestsellerlijsten belandde. In oktober 2006 verscheen Chaos, een roman noir/thriller over een ex-militair met een posttraumatische stressstoornis, die zij samen schreef met haar man Berry Verhoef onder het pseudoniem Escober. In 2007 kwam Close-Up uit. In 2008 volgde Ongenade (Escober) als hekkesluiter van de Sil Maier-trilogie.

 

Uit: Close-up

 

“Het maakte het makkelijker dat we elkaar zo goed kenden. Daardoor werkte ze, zonder het te weten, mee, en werd het intiem, geborgen bijna. Drie maanden heb ik me erop voorbereid. Eerst heb ik het plan aan alle kanten belicht. Geprobeerd het voor mezelf te visualiseren. Toen ik zeker wist dat het mogelijk moest zijn, was het geen gedachtespinsel meer, maar werd het een deel van mezelf. Het was heerlijk om ermee bezig te zijn, vanaf de voorbereidingen, die bestonden uit gesprekken met haar en de mensen om ons heen, tot aan het aanschaffen van de spullen die ik nodig had. Toegegeven, veel was dat niet. Ze bracht me zelf op het idee.

Edith kon niet zo goed tegen gebroken nachten, dan waren haar ogen de volgende ochtend dik en rood. En hoewel ze veel meer in huis had dan schoonheid alleen, wilde ze vóór alles mooi zijn. Wat mij betreft was ze dat altijd, of ze nu in vol ornaat op een receptie de show stal of net uit bed kwam en, zich verontschuldigend voor haar slonzige verschijning, in badjas thee voor me zette. Een slaapmiddel was voor haar de enige manier om niet steeds wakker te worden van het gerommel ’s nachts.

Ik keek ernaar uit, voelde me als een kind dat in de rij stond voor de achtbaan. Steeds een stapje vooruit, steeds dichterbij. De toenemende opwinding, die zijn hoogtepunt bereikte op de avond dat alles als een perfect passende puzzel in elkaar viel.

We hadden samen een fles wijn leeggedronken en het gehad over dingen die ons boeiden. Over kunst en kunstenaars, die de ondoordringbare en onbegrijpelijke wereld van de fantasie en emotie tastbaar maakten voor het grote publiek. Kunstschilders, beeldhouwers, schrijvers, muzikan
ten.

Ze was heel relaxed en leunde tegen me aan. Meer dan eens zei ze dat ze zich bij mij zo op haar gemak voelde, dat ze me helemaal vertrouwde. Ze was al aan het wegzakken, het middel werkte opvallend snel. Ik drukte haar tegen me aan en zei dat ze beter even in bad kon gaan. Ze was moe, ze had te veel meegemaakt, en na een verkwikkend bad en een goede nachtrust zou ze minder zwaarmoedig tegen alles aan kijken. Morgen zou ze zich vast beter voelen.”

 

 

estherverhoefdrie

Esther Verhoef (‘s-Hertogenbosch, 27 september 1968)

 

Zie voor nog meer schrijvers van de 27e september ook mijn vorige twee blogs van vandaag.