“Above All, Young”: Hoyt Rogers on Translating Frank Báez

Hoyt Rogers generously answered some questions from WWB Campus over email.

Q: How did you first encounter Báez and his work?

A: I met Frank through mutual friends, one of whom gave me his book Postales, or Postcards. I published my first translations of his work not only in Words Without Borders, but also in the Fortnightly Review. In the latter, I grouped his poems with those of his friend and fellow poet Homero Pumarol, and wrote a brief essay about their poetry. This culminated in an entire book-length anthology of Frank's work, Last Night I Dreamt I Was a DJ, translated by Scott Cunningham and me.

Q: What do you most enjoy about working with his poems?

A: I found his poems refreshing, energetic, and above all young, very different from the older, established poets such as Borges and Bonnefoy whom I'd translated in the past. Frank's youthful spirit has always given me the greatest joy in translating his poetry, but I have also been impressed by his vast knowledge of world literature.

Q: How has your work as a translator influenced your own work as a writer/ poet?

A: To answer this question I will quote one of my translations of an essay on translation by Yves Bonnefoy, the great French poet, essayist, and translator of English literature:

In a practical sense, if translation is not just a copy and a technique, but a questioning and an experience it can only be inscribed––only be written––in the duration of a life, and by invoking all the acts and aspects of that life. This does not mean that the translator has to be a “poet” in his or her own right. But it undoubtedly implies that if he does write himself, he will be unable to divide his translations from his works.

By Allison Tim