Taccuino di traduzione

"Più la storia s'avvicina ai nostri tempi, e più alle fusioni di due civiltà attraverso la carne si sostituisce quella attraverso la carta. Alle invasioni le traduzioni." Cesare Pavese, Il mestiere di vivere: 1940, 11 gennaio

12/10/2006

Pamuk

I have in all honesty believed that two people with similar names must have similar characters, that an unfamiliar word - be it Turkish or foreign - must be semantically similar to a word spelt like it, that the soul of a dimpled woman must carry something of the soul of another dimpled woman I knew before, that all fat people are the same, that all poor people belong to a fraternity about which I know nothing, that there must be a link between peas and Brazil - not just because Brazil is Brezilya in Turkish and the word for pea is bezelye, but also because the Brazilian flag has, it seems, an enormous pea on it: I've seen many Americans do the same thing when they assume a link between Turkey the country and turkey the bird.

Da: Istanbul, pg. 75