Abstract
Homophonic translations create poems that foreground the sound of the original more than the lexical meaning. I begin by discussing the concept of "sound writing," referencing Haroldo de Campos's concept of "transcration," Pound's "transduction," and the concept behind calques. I then consider my homophonic translation of Finnish poet Leevi Lehto follows and Ulises Carrión's isophonic translation. After noting Basil Bunting idea that meaning is carried by sound more than lexical content, I discuss Khelbnikov's approach to zaum (transense), and soundalike works based on bird song and animal sounds. The essay then takes up several specific examples: David Melnick's homophonic translation of Homer, Pierre Joris's voice recognition translation of Magenetic Fields, and Jean Donneley's version of Ponge. The essay concludes with a discussion of Caroline Bergvall's Drift, her version of "The Seafarer" as well as her Chaucer transcreations. A central part of the essay references "homophonic" translation in popular culture, in particular the "doubletalking" of Sid Caesar," the most popular TV comedian of the early 1950s. A discussion of his work in the context of American Jewish comedy is central to the lecture. But other more recent popular example of the homophonic are discussed with special reference to cultural appropriation.
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