Monday, December 31, 2007

Daney in 2007

Happy New Year everyone.
Sadly, I finish the year on a hesitant note in regards to the future of Daney in English.
2007 seemed an encouraging year. It started with the first Daney book to be published in English and I was hoping for some more translations to follow suit. But Postcards From the Cinema - Daney's posthumous "biography" which contains little of the film criticism that made him famous in the first place - was always going to be an odd choice as the first book by Daney in English. And the publication didn’t seem to generate any surge of interest for Daney. Only a handful of new articles have been translated (The Serpent’s Egg, In Stubborn Praise of Information, Elephant Man as well as extracts from an interview).
If this blog is any indication of the interest in Daney, it received almost twice as many visits than in 2006 but only to a total of 3500 visits for the whole year. The only bit of good news is that there do seem to be a small but expanding core of interested people. a few hundred people visit this blog more than 10 times a year and visitors are coming from more countries.

Google Analytics, 2007

Perhaps the most encouraging fact of the year was that the publication of a Portuguese translation of La Rampe for the Sao Paulo International Film Festival which has generated a a lot of discussion in the Brazilian blogosphere and a strong interest for this blog from Brazil (the second country in terms of visits after the USA). I see it as the proof that a translation of Daney’s film criticism does generate interest and that the translation work in English is still needed.

Let's hope exactly this for 2008.
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3 comments:

  1. Andy Rector5 February 2008 at 01:03

    LK,

    As the Les inrocks interview that you've provided says:

    "" It’s considered as my own problem, my strange – and eventually likeable – whim. Me, Serge Daney, I have this strange whim which consists in writing on television with a film maker’s morality. They don’t hold it against me but I may as well not say anything.""

    I for one urge you LK, if possible (!), not to take the approach of Daney's last above sentence and continue "saying something" to our, the readers, benefit! But, there's a problem: in spite of Daney's writings and your fine efforts LK, the problem of declining interest always seems to return unless there is some ongoing discussion. I believe some responsiveness to the texts that english-speakers *already have* is needed in order to ratchet up the need for more translations. Not to be pessimistic but I don't see many english-language critics or theorists using or contemplating what we already have and that is worrisome. Perhaps another blog or forum of some kind to discuss, historicize, and *continue onward* would be helpful to the general cause of getting more translations done. Something to think about as time presses on...

    If anyone who reads this blog is interested in perhaps talking about the formation of such a forum, please email me: kinoslang [at]hotmail[dot]com. (I, who am mainly familiar with Daney through the English texts this blog helps keep us aware of...)
    all the best,
    andy

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  2. Fontina Boy20 February 2008 at 23:18

    A question and a pray: I am an Italian film critic, writing a book on Douglas Sirk. I am looking for the SERGE DANEY interview to him, for my bibliography.

    Is someone able to help me?

    Please, it's important: pagoda1980[at]gmail.com

    Roberto Donati

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  3. LK21 February 2008 at 10:03

    Roberto,

    If you are referring to the first interview Daney did as part of his trip to the US with Louis Skorecki (aka Jean-Louis Noames), I believe this is the reference below.

    Entretien avec Douglas Sirk
    Cahiers du cinéma N°189, avril 1967
    Page N° : 19-25 ; 68-70
    Auteur : Daney Serge ; Noames Jean-Louis

    You can get the file from http://www.cahiersducinema.com but I'm afraid it will be in French and will cost you 2 euros.

    I hope this helps,
    Laurent

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