This week we welcome Mark Ford as our guest blogger. Mark teaches in the English Department at University College London. He has recently published a new translation of Raymond Roussel's New Impressions of Africa (Princeton University Press). He is the author of Raymond Roussel and the Republic of Dreams and the poetry collections Landlocked, Soft Sift, and Six Children. He has also published two volumes of essays, A Driftwood Altar and Mr and Mrs Stevens and Other Essays. He is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books and the New York Review of Books.
Here is John Ashbery on Ford's translation of Nouvelles Impressions d'Afrique: "That anyone could translate Nouvelles Impressions d'Afrique at all is unlikely, but that it could be done with such sparkle and brio seems downright mysterious. This version rescues Roussel's bizarre masterpiece from its status as an intriguing rumor and turns it into a valuable resource for contemporary English-speaking readers. Poets especially will be in Mark Ford's debt."
We were lucky to spend a few hours with Mark during our visit to London in March. He is pictured above with David Lehman.
Welcome, Mark.
We've created a tribute blog where you can post your thoughts and memories of Paul Violi, who died on April 2. Please visit Remembering Paul Violi.
— sdh