A beautiful mystical poem. At times, I wished the translator had chosen a freer verse. The endless heroic couplets become tedious and distracting. ( )

I just wanted to see how the actual work related to Peter Sis's adaptation. The actual work is much longer and has even less action. I don't think I'm a mystic, of any sort.

So... It's kind of hard to give this only three stars because it's such a classic. But much of this was a resounding, "Meh," for me.

Granted, it's all themes and genres I'm not drawn to: mysticism, religion, epic poetry, lots of slavery and other (now) anachronistic morality, and over-wrought love imagery: -3. But it does capture a certain world view (and a certain historical and cultural place), so 1. It's a world classic, so for better or worse: 2. Certain passages were really lyrical, rhythmic, etc. (big nod to the translators): 2, maybe 3 (I'll round up.) ( )

English Edition (First Read)

Translations like photos remove dimensions from our perceptive reality. Reading texts like this, you know that there could be more meanings under each original words. Translation veil these meanings (sometimes, as Jacques Derrida saying) but beside that a nice read.

Italian Edition (Second Read)

Ho cambiato la mia valutazione dopo questa seconda lettura a distanza di un paio di anni. Quattro stelle meritate. Come consiglia l'autore, rileggi anche più volte se necessario ché da questa velata sposa a uno a uno cadranno i veli, tra mille moine. Ed ancora Il libro che vi porgo è fregio dei tempi, dono gentile per nobili e vili. Se all'inizio sembrò simile a ghiaccio impenetrabile, alla fine si rivelò indomabile fuoco.

Ringrazio per Questo, l'Upupa ( )

I first became aware of The Conference of the Birds when reading [b:Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America And American in Iran|54859|Lipstick Jihad A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America And American in Iran|Azadeh Moaveni|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442969418s/54859.jpg|1154834] many years ago, which sparked a fascination with the tale's message. I, however, never got around to reading the whole thing--I stalled after a couple of attempts and later experienced it through Peter Sís' interpretation. But this year's Read Harder gave me the extra push to finally spend time with the thing.

Annnnd.... I wanted to like it more. To be fair, an epic poem told almost entirely in rhyming couplets was going to be a challenge, as I find nearly all rhyming poetry distracting. I have also been wooed by Sís' version, which is a bit more secular than the original, and restructures the action a little. I was unprepared to spend well over half the book just listening to the birds' excuses (OMG--I did have to take a break from the whiny birds), and while in theory I liked the idea of the Hoopooe following every directive with a handful of parables, it just got to wear on me. I'm glad I read it--don't get me wrong--and I still like the message, but I may stick to revisiting the Sís version from here on out (however sacrilege that may be). In fact, I should re-re-re*read that sucker again to compare.

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Read Harder: Poetry in translation with a theme other than love ( )