Lavish Absence: Recalling and Rereading Edmond Jabès

Rosmarie Waldrop presents small, various accounts of the relationship she has had with the French poet Edmond Jabes. The relationship is manifold for her as she recounts, first as a poet and reader, then as a translator and friend to Jabes. These sparks of recollection accumulate unpredictably and gently.Waldrop generously shares her intelligent courses of reading Jabes, her nearly vertiginous trials, translating the rhythms and puns of his books, as well as some amusing events and anecdotes about the life of the poet. Of course, Jabes is not present on account of such a mixture of sharings, but Waldrop's book enriches one's idea of Jabes. It is most difficult to find an assemblage as rich about Jabes' life and work in English, let alone one as touching and pleasant. I read this book in an evening and found myself popping all about, in the notes seeking the French versions of the poetry translated in the text, the bibliography out back, and front again to review a joke or echo of sentence at hand.In addition to the pleasure one might have reading about the Jabeses and their milieu, this book may be welcomed for its candid discussion of translation, its goals and methods. Some of Waldrop's solutions to vexing passages are ingenious and exciting.There are very few books of this nature. Illuminating translator's tales are rare and rarer still are the anecdotal sharings of the translator's interactions and impressions of her source. I recommend this book highly to those with an interest in Edmond Jabes, poetry after WWII, translation or writers in exile. It also allows part of the author's own life to develop in front of the poetry on view.

In Lavish Absence, Rosemarie Waldrop accomplishes three things. First she gives us a sense of Edmond Jabes the man and his relationships with various friends and family. As is often the case, familarity with his background enriches our appreciation for his work.Second, she provides a framework for understanding Jabes' thought - the margins, erasure, exile, desert etc. She gives us his understanding without references to deconstructionism, semiotics or other theories floating around the rarified air of understanding the use of language that were contemporanious with Jabes. Rather, in plain and understandable prose she introduces us to his understanding.Finally, she gives us insight into the choices and difficulties of translating - in general and in particular. In doing so, she not only expands our understanding of Jabes but influences how we read all translations.Excellent book, enjoyable read, and worth multiple reads.