Monday, July 02, 2007
(5:46 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Roaming Free in the Library
I am at the Regenstein today, and for various reasons feel free to follow my desire in a way that hasn't seemed possible for months now. (That feeling may be illusory, but I'm going with it.) My desire right now seems to be focused on recent French interpretations of Hegel -- a development I had not foreseen.I've also discovered that there is a book by Blanchot on Kafka, entitled De Kafka à Kafka, that does not appear to have been translated into English yet. Up and coming grad students: here is your chance. The combination of Blanchot and Kafka is so tasteful and elegant as to be nearly overwhelming -- the kind of thing that never goes out of style. (Incidentally, the space the Regenstein devotes to Kafka is considerable.) Clearly, someone must translate it. I'm a little busy right now, so someone can feel free to call dibs in comments.
My goal in coming here was to read the remaining 20 pages of Taubes' Abendländische Eschatologie and trade it in for a new German reading text. I felt that after a year of reading the thing, it was time for a change. I am following Brad's suggestion: Adorno's Minima Moralia. Lord willing, I should be able to finish that by late 2009, around the same time that I finish reading Augustine's Confessiones (begun May 2006; currently a little over halfway done). I would like to go to Germany with a DAAD scholarship in the hopes of speeding things up a bit -- does anyone know an instructor at the Goethe Institut who would be willing to certify me as meeting the minimum application requirements, in exchange for eternal gratitude and/or a bribe?
My goal in writing this post, of course, is simultaneously to put off the hard work of reading Taubes and to alienate as many of my readers as possible.
But seriously -- one of you should translate the Blanchot on Kafka thing. It's published by Gallimard. Just track down the e-mail address of the person who handles translation rights and ask them if they've been claimed. If not, translate a chapter or two for a sample, write up a proposal, and shop it around to English-language publishers. (I wouldn't recommend translating the whole thing before you've signed a contract.) This is an easy and fun process that will enrich the world even as it enriches your CV. In 14 years, when it's finally in print, we can have a big party. Everybody wins.
