Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2006 (18. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2006-05-12 / 20. szám
L.A. Times Festival of Books - Profiles GREGORY RABASSA One of the greatest literary translators ever, Gregory Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New York, USA, to a family headed by a Cuban émigré. His main languages are Spanish and Portuguese. He has produced English-language versions of novels by many major novelists including Julio Cortázar (Hopscotch, A Manual for Manuel, A Model Kit), Jorge Amado (Captains öf the Sand), Gabriel García Márquez, who even said that Rabassa’s translation of One Hundred Years of Solitude was superior to the Spanish original. Rabassa currently teaches at Queens College. When asked about his translating style, Mr. Rabassa said in a New York Times interview: “They’re all so different, the ones I did,” he said. “I don’t think I have a translation style. It’s a positive feeling I have about them. I find a lot of instinct in what I do. You have to just hit it right. I’m never sure whether something is right, but I know damn well when something is wrong.” Photo: Susan Jancso JOAN DIDION is an American writer, journalist, playwright, essayist, and novelist. She contributes regularly to The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. With her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, she collaborated on several screenplays. She lives in New York City. Born in Sacramento, California, she graduated from UC Berkeley in 1956. Much of Didion’s writing draws from her life in California, particularly during the 1960s. Her portrayals of conspiracy theorists, paranoiacs, and sociopaths (including Charles Manson) are now considered part of the canon of American literature. Didion is the author of five novels, including Run River and Play It As It Lays (1970), and eight books of non-fiction. Her collections of essays made her famous as an observer of American culture with a distinctive style of reporting that mixed personal reflection and social analysis. Didion’s latest book, The Year of Magical Thinking, chronicles the year following her husband’s death, during which her daughter, Quintana, was also gravely ill. The book is both a vivid personal account of losing a partner after 40 years of professional collaboration and marriage, and a broader attempt to describe the mechanism that governs grief and mourning. In November 2005, it won the National Book Award for nonfiction, and just now at the L.A. Times Festival of Books she earned the Robert Kirsch award for it. Although during the period of the book their daughter seemed to recover, she later died of complications from acute pancreatitis. The New York Times reported that Didion would not change the book to reflect her daughter’s death. “It’s finished,” she said. Photo: Robert Birnbaum AL MARTINEZ Photo: Susan Jancso Author, screenwriter, columnist (L.A. Times, Mondays and Fridays), recipient of several Pulitzer Prizes (shared) in Journalism. He is the quintessential California writer. He is not confrontational, he writes for the pleasure of his readers - perhaps for the pleasure he himself finds in writing. He writes about the people who live here - strange as they may be, like the “Silver Man” who walks the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica after his day job, pretending to be a robot, entertaining passersby and letting them take pictures with him for a dollar. He writes about the little joys and sorrows and quirks of our daily lives that we can all identify with, and he puts in a literary form destined not for the trashcan where daily newspapers inevitably end up, but for posterity. Martinez has been a columnist at the Los Angeles Times since 1984. Before that, he was a feature writer and reporter for the Times’ metro section from 1972 to 1984. During this period, Martinez has won numerous awards. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1984 for a series on the Southern California Latino community, and contributed columns for the Times’ Pulitizer winning coverage of the riots in 1992 and earthquake in 1994. Before that, he was a military writer, feature writer and columnist for the Oakland Tribune from 1955 to 1971. After a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, he started his career as a feature writer and reporter for the Richmond (Calif.) Independent in 1952. In addition to journalism, Martinez also created three network television series and has 20 credits for writing TV movies. His 1992 TV movie, “Out on the Edge,” earned him an Emmy nomination. His books include: “Rising Voices: A New Generation”, “Dancing Under the Moon”, “Ashes in the Rain”, “I’ll Be Damned If I’ll Die in Oakland”, “The Last City Room”, “Barkley: A Dog’s Journey”. The following was said about him when he received the L.A. Press Club’s award: “For years, A1 Martinez has vividly captured the city, its larger-than-life figures and ordinary residents, with a combination of charm, wit and wisdom. His gift for insight and storytelling is unique in Los Angeles.” DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. #102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 SPECIÁLIS ÁR LAX-BUD-LAX $566.-tÓl MX. Információért hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 The English Page of the Hírlap can serve as a bridge between the non-Hungarian-speaking members of the family and the community. Use it to bring people together! Subscribe to the Hírlap! Advertise your business in the Hírlap! If any questions or suggestions, please call (323) 463-6376 HUNGARIAN COINS Official Representative Office c/o THE COIN & CURRENCY INSTITUTE, Inc. P.O. Box 1057, Clifton, New Jersey 07014 Contact: A. Friedberg Phone (973) 471-1441 Telefax (973) 471-1062 mail@coin-currency.com Issuing Plan 2006 of Magyar Nemzeti Bank (National Bank of Hungary) World Money Fair - Berlin2006 125th Anniversary of the Birth of COMPOSER BELA BARTÓK The international collector programme “Europa- Star” has been enlarged in 2006 by the possibility to participate for the new members of the EU. Hungary joined the common programme 2006 “European Personalities” among the firsts. The Hungarian collector coin of the international series is a tribute to the great composer Bela BARTÓK, whose 125th birth anniversary gives actuality to the issuing. Bartok’s work stands out as a unique synthesis of traditional folk music and his own distinct style. He is considered one of the great composers of the 20th century. Son of a school director and a teacher, Bela Bartók (25 March 1881 - 26 September 1945) studied piano and music composition from 1892- 96, with László Erkel, a musician and son of Ferenc Erkel. He later studied under István Thoman and Hans Koesler at the Budapest Academy of Music from 1899 to 1903. Bartók first gained national recognition with his symphonic poem “Kossuth” in 1903. He was appointed as the Academy’s professor of piano in 1907. From 1905-06 he began to study Hungarian folk music, in collaboration with Zoltán Kodály. Later, from 1908, his attention also turned to the folk music of other nations as well, including Slovakian, Romanian and North African Arab folk music. In 1910, the Waldbauer-Kerpely quartet performed his String Quartet no. 7, a landmark piece featuring a radically new voice. Disenchanted with the public, Bartók withdrew from the limelight in 1912. Later during that decade, however, he composed three works for the stage: the opera Bluebeard’s Castle, the ballet The Wooden Prince and a pantomime piece The Miraculous Mandarin. In the decade following the First World War, Bartók was internationally renowned as a composer and performer. From 1934, he worked at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences on the compilation and publication of Hungarian folk music. His last expedition collecting folk music was to Turkey in 1936. In 1940, he went to the United States with his wife Ditta Pasztory on a concert tour and was unable to return home because of World War II. At the request of Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bartók composed his work Concerto for Orchestra in 1943. In 1944, he composed the Sonata for solo violin at the request of Yehudi Menuhin. In the final year of his life, Bartók was working on his Piano Concerto no. 3, dedicated to his wife, when he died on September 26, 1945 of leukemia. The sterling silver will have a diameter of 38,61mm, max, mintage 25,000 pieces only in Proof quality, face value 5000 Hungarian forint. The obverse shows woodcarving motives from Transylvania, which refers to one of the sources of Hungarian folk music. The reverse shows the portrait of the composer. Designer György KISS, who is wellknown as artist of many recent Hungarian commemorative coins. Proof Only $47.50 To order, or to be placed on the mailing list for all Hungarian coins, contact The Coin & Currency Institute, Inc., P.O. Box 1057, Clifton, NJ 07014. Toll-free 1-866-471-1441 * Fax (973) 471-1062. E-mail: mail@coin-currency.com . New Jersey residents should add 6% sales tax. Major credit cards are accepted. Add $4.75 to each order for shipping and handling. The obverse shows woodcarving motives from Transylvania, which refers to one of the sources of Hungarian folk music. WSjBiBSWÍ 7 \ Május 12,2006-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
