The Tears & Smiles of Things by Sodomora (w/ translators Dr. Roman Ivashkiv and Sabrina Jaszi)

Show Notes

This week, Matt and Cameron dive into Andriy Sodomora’s short story collection The Tears & Smiles of Things with the help of its translators Roman Ivashkiv and Sabrina Jaszi. The collection draws together Sodomora’s reflections on life, ancient texts, and the difficulties of translation. The book holds the subtitle “Stories, Sketches, Meditations.” It’s never easy to tell which is which — if indeed a clear delineation can be made at all — but Jaszi and Ivashkiv do their best to help the pair untangle it. 

Roman Ivashkiv teaches Slavic languages, literatures, and cultures at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. His research interests include translation, comparative literature, and language pedagogy. Currently, he is writing a monograph on transmesis (i.e., fictional representation of translation and translators) in contemporary Ukrainian literature and film. 

Sabrina Jaszi is a translator of Uzbek, Russophone, and Ukrainian literature based in Oakland, CA. She is a co-founder of the Turkoslavia translation collective and journal, both dedicated to Turkic and Slavic literature in translation. Currently, she is writing a dissertation on modern Central Asian literature at UC Berkeley. 

Major themes: Reading antiquity, Tears and smiles, Translating translators

We have included links where you can purchase a copy of The Tears & Smiles of Things later in these notes. 

25:02 - “Andriy Sodomora: “There are two paths that a translator can choose before their journey into the world of foreign languages: The first, long and difficult, will lead to the author, the other, shorter one, - leads to the reader, who seeks instant enjoyment.” by Bogdana Romantsova 

25:40 - *Room without a Shadow, excuse me

01:09:30 - The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy

01:09:38 - Timothy Snyder’s history of Ukraine Yale courses on Youtube

01:10:02 - Victoria Amelina, whose book Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary is set to be published in February 2025. 

01:10:12 - The publication section of Harvard’s Ukrainian Research Institute.

01:10:15 - Lost Horse Press

01:11:22 - Stanislav Aseyev’s In Isolation: Dispatches from the Occupied Donbas

01:12:10 - There isn’t a lot on Sukhbat Aflatuni, but here’s a review of one of his novels by translator Lisa Hayden. 

The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube. 

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