About Marit MacArthur

In 2008, Horace Engdahl, chair of the Swedish Academy that awards the Noble Prize Committee in Literature, made a fair point when he said that Americans “don’t translate enough,” as one of the reasons why few Americans are on the short list for the prize. Alas, that’s true in regard to literature in many languages. [...]

Reviewed: Peregrinary by Eugeniusz Tkaczszyn-Dycki, translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston, Zephyr Press, 2008, $14.95 Translator Bill Johnston observes that Eugeniusz Tkaczszyn-Dycki’s hyphenated last name is a bit much even for Poles, and I follow their (and Johnston’s) custom in referring to the poet henceforth as Dycki—pronounced Dits-kee. However difficult his name may appear [...]

Reviewed: The Collected Poems by Kenneth Koch. Knopf, 761 pages. On the Edge. Collected Long Poems by Kenneth Koch. Knopf, 411 pages. Many poems by Kenneth Koch seem written to amuse and instruct a roomful of undergraduates. And they do. So I conclude from my own teaching of Koch. Anyone who ever heard Koch give [...]