Translation of Byzantium to the Other Continent

Abstract

The issue of “creative” translation and interpretation between English and Serbian literary expression, based on the correspondence of two poets, is the starting point for this essay. The basis of the discussion are the lyrics about Byzantium by Ivan V. Lalić, translated and prepared by Charles Simic. Examples of the letters are taken from the book “A view across the ocean: The correspondence of Ivan V. Lalić and Charles Simic 1969–1996,” edited by Svetlana Šeatović Dimitrijević. In preparing this correspondence, a private and authentic world has come to light, and a “surplus of meaning” as the key for understanding the relation between the two poets, who built a friendship in a “scarce time” and kept their presence of mind. This essay presents a critical review of a dialogue about creativity, which forges a bond between Serbian and American literature through the letters of the two poets. The second part of the essay provides a cultural and literary analysis of Simic’s critical interpretation of the reconstructed Byzantium myth in the poetry of Lalić.