Reporter | Liu Yaguang
Amanda recited poetry at Biden's inauguration. Image source: Patrick Semansky / Associated Press
Born in 1998 and suffering from a language disorder since childhood, Amanda Gorman, according to a Guardian report, grew up with poetry as "the source of all the love of life". In her love of poetry, she overcomes her innate defects through continuous oral practice, and is enthusiastic about social welfare. The Guardian commented that "for Amanda, all expressions are both 'poetic' and 'political'". To some extent, this also laid the foundation for the style of Gorman's later poetry.
In 2014, at the age of 16, Goleman initiated a non-profit nonprofit organization called "One Pen One Page" to support various poetry seminars and social welfare activities. The following year, she published her first collection of poems and went to Harvard University to study sociology. In 2017, she received the inaugural National Youth Poet Laureate. Awarded annually, the award recognizes outstanding American youth who excel in literature, speech, the arts, and other fields while contributing to the cause of social justice.
This honor greatly increased Gorman's social exposure. In 2017, at a rally at the Library of Congress, she recited a personal original poem called In This Place— written after a parade of white supremacists. Among the audience was Jill Biden, the wife of the current U.S. President Joe Biden. Three years later, biden's campaign for president was successful, and Gill strongly recommended Gorman as a poet who recited at President Biden's inauguration.
The poem that Gorman recited fondly at Biden's inauguration was The Hill We Climb, which was caught up in the boycott. Intriguingly, the poem was written in January, when Trump's rabid supporters stormed Congress.
Gorman told The New York Times: "I don't want to talk too much about the many social injustices and racial divisions that exist in the United States under the Trump administration, I just want to use my words to help people imagine a future that can unite and heal each other." She wrote in the poem: "Our obstacles are in the common front, not between each other." Our greatest concern should be the future, not our differences. We lower our waving fists so we can join hands with each other. We embrace each other in camaraderie and dispel aggression. （We lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another, we seek harm to none and harmony for all.）”
Amanda Gorman, a young American poet.
The publisher, Moulenhoff, was scheduled to publish a Dutch translation of the poem by the end of March, chosen by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, who became the youngest author to win the Booker Prize last year for her novel The Discomfort of Evening. According to the Los Angeles Times, the publisher considered Reinevelde to be the most suitable person to translate the poem, and Amanda herself was pleased with the choice.
However, this decision was soon criticized by Dutch society. Critics argue that as a black writer, Amanda's work should be translated by authors whose experiences are more similar to hers. For example, one of the critics, Dutch activist and journalist Janice Deul, wrote in the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant: "This has nothing to do with The level of translation in Reinervelde, but why not choose a young black female writer with a similar background to Amanda Gorman to translate poetry?" ”
At present, the publisher has withdrawn its previous decision and will not be translated by Reinevelde. In response to the decision, Reinevelde himself said he was "shocked" by the emergence of these critical voices, but also "understood the feelings of those who felt offended." Maaike le Noble, Moulenhoff's general manager, said in a statement that the publisher would "learn some lessons" from the incident. Janis Deere thanked the publisher for the decision on Twitter.
Reference Links:
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-03-01/dutch-poet-declines-assignment-to-translate-gormans-works
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jan/22/how-amanda-gorman-became-the-voice-of-a-new-american-era
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Youth_Poet_Laureate
Compiled | Liu Yaguang
Edited | Luodong
Proofreader | Li Xiangling
Source: Beijing News