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Friday,
July 12, 2002
Dear Team:
How exciting!
I have compliled all the photographs that I have recieved from all of
you so that you may all see how you all look after more than a year
of just words and e-mail.
To be sure
this is an incomplete gallery....
The Polish
editor and Swedes never sent me photos. Forget about the Dutch....the
Japanese editor too. I don't have a picture of the Italien editor. Nor
of the German editor.
But I have
photos of everybody else and I will be sending them in triplets all
this week!
So download
them fast so your e-mail accounts don't clog!
Rejoice!
Real human beings with real personal stories are behind these photos.
Courage, humor, hardship, faith, and joy in the unknown are well documented
in this brilliant story that is still dramatically unfolding....
Here is
Alex, our Russian editor, Cecile our French translator,
and Dov our Israeli editor and translator... [see next letter]
Enjoy!
More photos are coming!
Michael
Sunday,
July 14, 2002
Dear Team:
I should
have given more background on Alex, Cecile, and Dov.
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Alex
is our Russian editor. He has worked very closely with Evgueni,
our Russian translator who is in Russia right now re-newing his
passport. Evgueni hopes to return to Poland as soon as possible.
More about that later. Alex lives in Minsk, Belarus and was once
a soldier in the Soviet army when it was advising the Communists
in Ethiopia in their struggle against non-communist insurgents.
Alex has the biggest collection of Russian, English, and Polish
slang books in Minsk proper and is quite well versed in American
literature.
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Cecile
is our French translator. She is a free-lance worker and has recently
bought a house in Bristol, England. Cecile also commutes a lot
to southern France where she has business often. cecile has traveled
extensively to America and North Africa. Cecile is French-born
but has ties to Germany from her mother's side.
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Dov
is our Israeli editor and is of Italien extraction. He is also
the oldest member of the team. Dov lives in Zichron Ya'acov close
to Haifa and Netanya the site of numerous suicide bombings. Dov
is also a free-lance translator and goes to Milan, Italy often
where he still has relatives. Dov is one of the conceptual thinkers
of the team as you all well know. It is he who proposed last year
the idea of a Harvest of Gems confernce which illicited quite
a bit of e-mail from all of you.
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In this
letter I will show photos of Sibylle, Dongwei, and Marilena. Our German,
Chinese, and Italien translators...
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Sibylle
lives in New Zealand and is extremely well-read in English and
American literature. She especially has a good knowledge of James
Joyce which she has read both in the original English and in German
translation. Sibylle has been an excellent and consistent correspondent
which is not the case with the other members of our Germanic language
group.
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Dongwei
lives in Guanzhou, China and hails originally from the Northern
part of the Middle Kingdom. Dongwei teaches English at the prestigious
Institute of Foreign Studies which also has branches in Shanghai,
and Beijing as well as Guanzhou. Dongwei has been a superb friend
and his background in modern American literature has been enormously
helpful. Since I have traveled to China twice, Dongwei and I have
had much to talk about in our correspondence. Dongwei now has
a baby boy and you can see him in this picture with his gorgeous
wife out on a day stroll with a Chinese landscape in the background.
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Marilena
is our Italien translator and our renassaince woman. She has translated
into Italien many English literary books including the works of
the American science fiction writer Ray Bradbery. Marilena lives
near Genoa, Italy and I must say she is quite a woman. Her knowledge
of Italien history is quite broad and her interests in Photography
and poetry can be seen on her magnificent web-sites:
www.tiscali.it/marileva
and www.utenti.tripod.it/marie12000 [both offline]
So
by all means have a look!
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Michael
Tuesday,
July 16, 2002
Dear team:
Well, here
are some more pictures of our team.
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The
first picture is of Evgueni, one of our youngest members. It's
our Spanish translator, Anablanca holding a copy of Harvest
of Gems. You know, Anablanca is a law graduate in Alicante, Spain
who is engaged to be married someday and loves translating literary
works. Her translation is magnificent and I can attest to this
because I am fluent in Spanish. Anablanca is a dear one and I
know she's something of a secret yogini. I'm just joking....
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The
next photo is Evgueni, our Russian translator. Evgueni
is one of the intellectual powerhouses of the team. His background
in modern Russian and American literature is quite awesome and
it has been an absolute privilege corresponding with him at great
length. Our e-mail alone is enough to fill an entire book. Evgueni
has been living in Poland for the last ten years and his struggle
to prevent being deported back to Russia has been a roller-coaster
ride indeed. Evgueni is back in Russia re-newing his passport.
His wife and two kids I assume are either with him or still in
Poland. It is Evgueni's dream to come to the USA someday. Perhaps,
this dream will one day be reality.
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Finally,
here is Deolinda. Our Portuguese-Spanish editor. The only
editor working with two translators and the only member of the
team who has met me face to face. Deo was one of the original
academic evaluators and ALL you editors can either thank or curse
her that you have a job with me. Deo believes no translator can
work alone without an editor. Deo's editing skills and knowledge
of Latin, American, and European literature are impressive. Deo
is working towards a PH.d in Spanish literature and specializes
in Latin American woman writers. Deo also is keen on linguistics
and translation theory. Deo's in Cuba right now. Needless to say
Deo and I are very close not just geographically, but intellectually.
And Deo's also a good friend.
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Ah, it's
an overcast day in San Francisco today. The sun was out early in the
morning though and The British Pound is surging and I'm surfing it.
Michael
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contents of this site © Finberg Books 2000-2004 by Michael Arthur
Finberg
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