I love a wet morning, even on the day I planned to wash and sun-dry the sheets. And it was really pouring when I work up this morning, not ‘just spitting,’ as our nextdoor neighbour, who likes rain, but who often seems to feel it’s the wrong day. This month rain is unwelcome because of the cherry crop. I imagine most farmers have the same feelings about weather, whatever it is. Moreover the moon was new ten days ago, on which day it also rained, and, says our neighbour, whatever weather we have on the day of the new moon, will dominate the next 28 days.

My publisher at Seagull Books has just sent me a remarkable review of the English translation (mine) of Hélène Cixous’s Well-kept Ruins (Seagull Books, 2022). I am very pleased to record Xiao Yue Shan’s comment about the translation:

‘Beverley Bie Brahic, Cixous’ longtime English translator, deftly controls the topology of these words by thinking the author into this other language, transposing this hailstorm of intuitions and suspensions into a confident voice that acknowledges meanings. Cixous’ penchant for wordplay and linguistic curios has made it famously difficult to translate her, yet the exuberant dynamism and musicality of this iteration is sensitive to humor, to outburst, to the sheer joy that the stylist commands. There is no doubt in these pages, no stuttering hesitation; Brahic’s long career as a poet heightens her ability to convey the unfurling, sentence by sentence, that is so enchanting about Cixous’ transformative craft.’

Most of all this review shows extraordinary understanding of Cixous’s writing. Here is a link to the whole of the reviewer’s essay on the Cleveland Review of Books website:

https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/writing/helene-cixous-well-kept-ruins

If you are as impressed as I am by Xiao Yue Shan’s writing, you may also wish to read a story of hers on Granta: https://granta.com/to-that-silence-i-told-everything/.