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The Naked Man, The Girl in the Glass

May 24, 2014/in Summer-Fall 2014, Translation, Translation / by Rupprecht Mayer, translated from the German by Eldon (Craig) Reishus and the author

The Naked Man

Naked, I run towards you. I’ve been through a lot but I’m no napalm-girl. There is something dangling between my legs. I’m in my mid-forties and overweight. You watch unmoved as I run in your direction. Try to distill at least a little compassion—some curious, tiny interest in me. Hug me, when I finally reach you, panting. Or, just forget it. Just open up an aisle and let me slide past. I have other options. Perhaps I’ll continue running, roll down the mountain slope behind you, bounce off the branches of an ash, grab a billy goat by the gruff, and ride across the pasture glen in glory. Should I whisper him my story, he’ll carry me to the next fork. And far away I’ll have many adventures unknown to you.

Translated by Eldon (Craig) Reishus

 

The Girl in the Glass

She wears a one-piece swimsuit, her pretty legs stretched upwards diagonally, the left placed on the right. Her feet rest on the inside of the cylindrical glass. She sits on brown plastic pebbles, supporting herself with her hands on the ground, her shoulder blades and the back of her head  pressed against the glass as well. This strongly twisted position seemingly doesn’t cause her discomfort. In any case, she smiles at me from inside when I bend over the glass. Then we talk about this and that. Her voice is quite thin, but I can understand her. She is twenty-two years old and five inches high. Why am I telling you all this? We are completely at ease with each other. She is not afraid of me. You see: how could one rape someone so small? When I work, I put the glass on the shelf. Then I know only from her lip movements, that she is talking to me.

Translated by the author

prose_section_divider

Der nackte Mann

Ich laufe nackt auf euch zu. Ich hab so vieles erlebt. Gut, ich bin kein Napalm-Mädchen. Zwischen meinen Beinen schlackert alles mögliche. Ich bin Mitte vierzig, übergewichtig. Ihr betrachtet ungerührt, wie ich auf euch zurenne. Versucht doch wenigstens, ein Minimum an Mitleid aus den Manschetten zu ziehen. Ein klitzekleines Interesse. Umarmt mich, wenn ich keuchend eure Mitte erreiche.

Oder eben nicht. Dann macht eine Gasse frei. Ich habe durchaus Optionen. Ich kann weiterlaufen, den Abhang hinter euch hinunterschweben. Buchenäste fangen mich auf, ich kollere genussvoll über Bergwiesen, hänge mich an die Zotteln von Ziegenböcken. Denen erzähle ich, was ich durchgemacht habe, und sie schleifen mit dafür zum nächsten Wegekreuz. Weit weg von hier werde ich neue Abenteuer erleben, und auch von denen werdet ihr nie erfahren.

 

Das Mädchen im Glas

Sie trägt einen einteiligen Badeanzug, streckt die hübschen Beine schräg nach oben, das linke über das rechte gelegt. Ihre Füsse ruhen an der Innenwand des zylindrischen Glases. Sie sitzt auf braunen Plastikkieseln, stützt sich mit den Armen hinten am Boden ab, ihre Schulterblätter und ihr Hinterkopf lehnen ebenfalls an der Glaswand. Die stark abgewinkelte Haltung scheint ihr keine Beschwerden zu bereiten. Jedenfalls lächelt sie zu mir herauf, wenn ich mich über das Glas beuge. Dann unterhalten wir uns über alles mögliche. Ihre Stimme ist sehr fein, aber ich kann sie gut verstehen. Sie ist zweiundzwanzig Jahre alt und zwölf Zentimeter gross. Warum erzähle ich Ihnen das alles? Wir gehen sehr unbefangen miteinander um, sie hat keine Scheu vor mir. Wie könnte man auch jemand vergewaltigen, der so klein ist? Wenn ich arbeite, stelle ich das Glas ins Regal. Ich erkenne dann nur an ihren Mundbewegungen, dass sie mit mir redet.

Translator’s Note:

Get up at 4 AM, like usual. Figure out at the computer next to your bed that it’s a bad day to work on your own stuff, nothing happening. Go downstairs and make a smoothie with banana, strawberries, Heiden Honig, Milch, Espresso. Come back up, slurp, slurp, and go into the Internet to find out what England’s been saying overnight about FC BAYERN and Guardiola. By now it’s 5 AM and the church bells are gonging nuts because this is the time for the local dairy farmers to start yanking udders. Uff—did you read that last sentence?—totally bad morning for working on your own stuff. Check into your email and take a look at what Rupprecht sent you. Decide, okay, maybe I can work on these pieces…

Doing a translation is so much easier than working on one’s own stuff. An hour and a half and you’re finished. Whereas if it were your own stuff, that same amount of characters, that hour would be a day, and that half would be a whole. Not because you’re cheating any language, but because the person on the far end already has come up with meaning. Good translation is not original writing, it’s the transcription of meaning into one’s mother tongue. The magic of course lies in finding the right words. But at 6, 7 in the morning, with the foreign meaning already there…godsend.

Rupprecht MayerRupprecht Mayer lived 20 years in Taiwan, Beijing, and Shanghai. He translates Chinese literature into German and writes short prose. English versions have appeared in Atticus, Bicycle Review, Connotation Press, Frostwriting, Gravel, Hobart, Mikrokosmos/Mojo, NAP, Nano Fiction, Ninth Letter, Orange Quarterly, Postcard Shorts, Prick of the Spindle, theNewer York, Word Riot, Washington Square, and Watershed Review. See chinablaetter.info/rupprechtmayer/

 

 

Eldon ReishusEldon (Craig) Reishus entertains a growing, less intimate circle under the Alps outside Munich (Landkreis Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen). He is an old-school Exquisite Corpse contributor (recent work has appeared at Word Riot, decomP magazinE, B O D Y, Anomalous Press, Corium Magazine, MadHatLit, Black Heart Magazine…), all-around print and web media pro, and the German-English translator of numerous films and books. He originates from Fort Smith, Arkansas—if not Ytterboe at St. Olaf via Granite Falls. Visit him: www.reishus.de

https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png 0 0 Christopher Pruitt https://lunchticket.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/lunch-ticket-logo-white-text-only.png Christopher Pruitt2014-05-24 20:24:212019-05-19 12:09:09The Naked Man, The Girl in the Glass

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Friday Lunch Blog

Friday Lunch! A serving of contemporary essays published the second Friday of every month.

Today’s course:

How to Kill a Cat, or How to Prepare for CATastrophe

March 10, 2023/in Blog / Meghan McGuire
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The Night I Want to Remember

December 16, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Sanaz Tamjidi
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From Paper to the Page

November 18, 2022/in 2023ws-migration, Blog / Annie Bartos
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Midnight Snack

Take a bite out of these late night obsessions.

Tonight’s bites:

Point Break & Top Gun Are More Than Homoerotic Action Movies

March 3, 2023/in Midnight Snack / Michaela Emerson
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Mending the Heart and Slowing Down: Reintroducing Myself to Mexican Cooking

October 7, 2022/in Midnight Snack / Megan Vasquez
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The Worth of a Billionaire’s Words

September 23, 2022/in Midnight Snack / Kirby Chen Mages
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Amuse-Bouche

Little bites every third Friday to whet your appetite!

Today’s plate:

On Such a Full Sea Are We Now

March 17, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Jemma Leigh Roe
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The Russian Train

February 24, 2023/in Amuse-Bouche / Cammy Thomas
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Still Life

October 31, 2022/in Amuse-Bouche / Daniel J. Rortvedt
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School Lunch

An occasional Wednesday series dishing up today’s best youth writers.

Today’s slice:

I’ve Stayed in the Front Yard

May 12, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Brendan Nurczyk
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A Communal Announcement

April 28, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Isabella Dail
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Seventeen

April 14, 2021/in School Lunch, School Lunch 2021 / Abigail E. Calimaran
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Word From the Editor

Our contributors are diverse and the topics they share through their art vary, but their work embodies this mission. They explore climate change, family, relationships, poverty, immigration, human rights, gun control, among others topics. Some of these works represent the mission by showing pain or hardship, other times humor or shock, but they all carry in them a vision for a brighter world.

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