Victoria Livingstone Translation
Victoria Livingstone, who is back from a Fulbright Fellowship in Brazil, has published a trilingual (Maya K’iche’, Spanish and English) edition of Song from the Underworld by Pablo García, winner of the 2007 B’atz’ Prize for Indigenous Literature in Guatemala. Published by Achiote Press, the book draws on images and rhythms of traditional Maya poetry in an unusual blend of ancient and modern. Its twenty-five poems, translated from Spanish to English by Livingstone in collaboration with the poet, have been read as a critique of the modern world and as the story of a man and a woman searching for redemption. Livingstone also provides an introductory study on Maya literature, notes, and a glossary for mythological and cultural references. The project originated in BU’s celebrated Translation Seminar.
Livingstone’s doctoral dissertation studies the role of Harriet de Onís in the reception of Latin American Literature in the United States in the years preceding the Boom.