Biblioteca DEA SABINA

Poesie di Iana Boukova, Poetessa bulgara-

Iana Boukova was born in 1968 in Sofia. She studied Classics at Sofia University. Since 1994 she lives permanently in Greece.
She has published two collections of poetry: Diocletian’s Palaces (1995) and Boat in the Eye (2000), a collection of short stories: A As Anything (2006) and a novel: Journey towards the Shadow (2009).
She works as a translator and editor of poetry and philosophical texts from Modern Greek, Ancient Greek and Latin. She has compiled and translated 10 collections and anthologies of modern Greek poetry. The first Bulgarian editions of Sappho’s all fragments and the collected poetry of Gaius Valerius Catullus were published in 2009 in her translation.
She has published in a number of literary and cultural editions in Bulgaria and Greece. In 2006 the Athens publishing house Ikaros published the Greek translation of her book of poetry The Minimal Garden. She is a member of the editors board of FRMK, a biannual journal on poetry, poetics and visual arts.
Her poems and short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines in Albania, Argentina, Chile, Croatia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Serbia, Sweden and USA.

 

Party

Non esistono anime. Nessuno le compera.
Chiesa di Satana, California

Le ville più lussuose stanno sull’orlo della Terra.
C’è un 1% della popolazione del pianeta
dotata del privilegio
di far penzolare i piedi oltre l’atmosfera
e bere cocktail con vista sulle galassie.

(Il governo cela questi fatti
dietro enormi palizzate di ghiaccio.)

Non sai mai cosa ti procurerà più problemi:
la fantasia o la realtà.
La più frequente preoccupazione tra le clienti
di un’istruttrice di orgasmi di LA California
è che le loro fantasie erotiche
non sono abbastanza femministe.

In misura non minore la scienza fisica
ha a lungo rifiutato di accettare l’esistenza del vuoto,
per motivi che potrebbero definirsi
prettamente psicologici.

I party più fighi vengono sotto la stella di diamante
– la nana bianca BPM 37093,
pezzo di terra con un serbatoio di energia oscura.

Ed è quasi deludente che persino la pazzia
sia incapace di superare l’umano:
che venga a farti visita Belzebù,
o che ti rapiscano gli extraterrestri,
c’è sempre di mezzo un atto sessuale
(contronatura in prevalenza).

I diamanti sono eterni.
Disco will never die.
L’universo è pieno di petrolio,
lo sai?

*

Купон

Не съществуват души. Никой не ги купува.
Църква на Сатан, Калифорния

Най-луксозните вили са на ръба на Земята.
Има 1% от населението на планетата,
който разполага с привилегията
да провесва крака извън атмосферата
и да си пие коктейлите с гледка към галактиките.

(Правителството крие тази факти
зад огромни заграждения от лед.)

Никога не знаеш кое ще те забърка в повече проблеми:
фантастичното или реалността.
Най-честото безпокойство сред клиентките
на една инструкторка по оргазъм от Eл Ей
е, че еротичните им фантазии
не били достатъчно феминистични.

В не по-малка степен науката физика
отказвала за дълго да приеме съществуването на вакуума,
по причини, които могат да се определят
предимно като психологически.

Най-яките купони стават под звездата-диамант
– бяло джудже BPM 37093,
парцел с находище на тъмна енергия.

И е почти разочароващо, че дори лудостта
е неспособна да стигне по-далече от човешкото:
дали ще те посети Велзевул,
или ще те отвлекат извънземните,
все някакъв сексуален акт бива описван
(противоестествен предимно).

Диамантите са вечни.
Диско уил невър дай.
Вселената е пълна с нефт от край до край.

Versione italiana tradotta da Alessandra Bertuccelli

 

S [excerpts]*

String, a straight line straining to prove itself useful.
Soup, a way of loving things.
Sentiment, an ointment for beginners.
Savannah what I see on my body lying down.
Slogan, a thought’s wooden leg.
Soap, guarantees you will at least be clean when you slip.
Set of plates, parade of militant porcelain.
Spinach, Santa’s younger cousin.
Slave, every unbroken mirror.
Sex, a neon sign.
Shit, above all not a childhood illness.
Sponsor, someone who never remembers his name.
Salami, section of symbiosis.
Stage, the usefulness of every smooth surface.
Sandwich, a tango with mustard.
Scuba suit, a joke among crabs.
Symmetry, a highly contagious disease.
Sack, a landed balloon.
Seismograph, someone busy describing solely big events.
Skeleton, a trapped percussion orchestra.
Stool, an oppressed coffee-table.
Sickle-and-hammer, history’s knife-and-fork.
Sardine, a fish displaying human-like behaviour in contained spaces.
Striptease, an act that bores the X-ray specialist.
Schizophrenia, mind’s wide open embrace.
Stalactite, child of water-drop torture.
Spur, Morse code of divine love.
September, a middle-aged April.
Sternum, something like Pandora’s box in pink (and purple).
System, a sieve that also has large holes.
Snail, time’s steed.
Sowing, burial in the manic phase.
Station, gradation of the end.
Sophist, a wise man who’s insured.
Scrabble, an English gentleman lacking a few vowels.
Shock, good to carry on oneself in case of cramps.
Show, when Aristotle cried.
Shaman, impresario of the dead.
Seraphim, the only church banner that isn’t a dragon.
Sword, a shining that leaves things half.
Salsa, a hot dance.
Statistics, the philological abuse of mathematics.
Sauce, a suspect hatred against the simplicity of things.

(translated by Panayotis Ioannidis)

S-tralci

Corda, una linea retta che si sforza di dimostrare di essere utile.
Zuppa, un modo di amare le cose.
Sentimento, un unguento per principianti.
Savana, ciò che vedo sul mio corpo sdraiato.
Slogan, gamba di legno di un pensiero.
Sapone, ti garantisce almeno di essere pulito quando scivoli.
Servizio di piatti, sfilata di porcellana militante.
Spinacio, il cugino più giovane di Babbo Natale.
Schiavo, ogni specchio intatto.
Sesso, un’insegna al neon.
Merda, soprattutto non una malattia infantile.
Sponsor, qualcuno che non ricorda mai il suo nome.
Salame, fetta di simbiosi.
Palcoscenico, l’utilità di ogni superficie liscia.
Sandwich, un tango con senape.
Muta da sub, uno scherzo tra i granchi.
Simmetria, una malattia altamente contagiosa.
Sacco, un pallone atterrato.
Sismografo, qualcuno impegnato a descrivere solo grandi eventi.
Scheletro, un’orchestra di percussioni intrappolata.
Sgabello, un tavolino da caffè sottomesso.
Falce e martello, il coltello e la forchetta della storia.
Sardina, un pesce che mostra un comportamento simile all’uomo in spazi contenuti.
Striptease, un atto che annoia lo specialista dei raggi X.
Schizofrenia, l’abbraccio spalancato della mente.
Stalattite, figlia della tortura della goccia d’acqua.
Sperone, codice Morse dell’amore divino.
Settembre, un aprile di mezza età.
Sterno, qualcosa come il vaso di Pandora in rosa (e viola).
Sistema, un setaccio che ha anche grandi fori.
Lumaca, il destriero del tempo.
Semina, sepoltura nella fase maniacale.
Stazione, progressione della fine.
Sofista, un uomo saggio che è assicurato.
Scarabeo, un gentiluomo inglese privo di alcune vocali.
Shock, buono da portare su se stessi in caso di crampi.
Spettacolo, quando Aristotele pianse.
Sciamano, impresario dei morti.
Serafino, l’unico stendardo della chiesa che non sia un drago.
Spada, uno splendore che lascia le cose a metà.
Salsa, un ballo caldo.
Statistica, l’abuso filologico della matematica.
Condimento, sospetto odio contro la semplicità delle cose.

Neighbors

First they come for a cup
of sugar for a cup of vinegar
for nothing
And you being well brought up
allow your kitchen to fill
with people and your days to shorten
as if winter has suddenly begun
Later all evening through the wall
you hear the muffled blows of bodies the dog’s
bark the ringing of the phone
which nobody answers
Your cigarettes pack up this night
you walk for miles in the room
and then in your dreams (having finally fallen asleep)
In the morning you see them refreshed they water
their flowers wave to you
go out in the open
casting a fourfold shadow
like a footballer’s
in the middle of the park.

Vicinato

Prima vengono per una tazza
di zucchero per una tazza di aceto
per niente
E tu che sei stato educato bene
lasci che la tua cucina si riempia
di persone e le tue giornate si accorcino
come se l’inverno fosse improvvisamente iniziato
Più tardi per tutta la sera attraverso il muro
senti i colpi attutiti dei corpi il cane
abbaiare lo squillo del telefono
cui nessuno risponde
Le tue sigarette rimettono ordine a questa notte
cammini per miglia nella stanza
e poi nei tuoi sogni (essendoti finalmente addormentato)
Al mattino li vedi rinfrescati che annaffiano
i loro fiori ti salutano
escono all’aperto
gettando una quadruplice ombra
come un calciatore

Iana Boukova or Yana Bukova (Bulgarian: Яна Букова; born 18 July 1968) is a Bulgarian poet, novelist and essayist. She is considered one of the most significant Bulgarian authors of the 21st century.^{[citation needed]}

Life

Born in Sofia in 1968, Boukova has a degree in Classics from Sofia University. She is the author of four books of poetry, including Diocletian’s Palaces (1995), Boat in the Eye (2000), Notes of the Phantom Woman (2018) and Black Haiku (2024); two collections of short stories, including A as in Аnything (2006) and Tales With No Return (2016); and the novel Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow (first published in 2009, followed by a revised edition in 2014) which is forthcoming from New York Review Books in 2026. Her poems and short stories have been translated into numerous languages, including Greek, Spanish, French, German, and Arabic. English translations of her poetry and prose have been published in various anthologies and journals in the US and the UK, including Best European Fiction 2017, Words Without Borders, Two Lines, Absinthe, Drunken Boat, Ariel Art, European Literature Network, Zoland Poetry, Take Five, At the End of the World – Contemporary Poetry from Bulgaria.

Boukova is a member of the platform Greek Poetry Now and of the editorial board of FRMK, a biannual journal on poetry, poetics, and visual arts. Poems originally written by her in Greek were included in the anthology Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry (Penguin Books, 2016, New York Review of Books, 2017). Her books in Greek include The Minimal Garden, Ikaros 2006 (translated by Dimitris Allos), and Drapetomania, Mikri Arktos 2018. Boukova is also the editor and translator into Bulgarian of more than ten collections and anthologies of modern and ancient Greek poetry, including Sappho‘s Fragments (The Union of Bulgarian Translators’ Prize in 2010), the collected poetry of Catullus, and the Pythian Odes by Pindar (The National Prize for Translation in 2011).

According to the Bulgarian poet and writer Silvia Choleva, “Boukova is a Borgesian type of author. She favors play, references, riddles unexpected twists, ironies, and the dramaturgy of verse. She possesses deep knowledge not just in the sphere of the humanities, in which she specialized, but she is also enticed by science, she knows a lot, and all of this is reflected in Notes of the Phantom Woman”^[1]

Fiction

Iana Boukova is the author of the short story collections A as in Аnything (2006) and Tales With No Return (2016), and the novel Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow, which was originally published in Bulgarian in 2009 followed by a revised edition in 2014. Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow has been praised as one of the most innovative, compelling, erudite, idiosyncratic, and ambitious books to emerge from the contemporary Bulgarian literary scene for decades past.^{[citation needed]} According to the PEN America Pen/Heim Translation Fund Grants jury, “Iana Boukova’s novel Traveling in the Direction of the Shadow is one of the most original and compelling books to emerge from Bulgaria’s contemporary literary scene: the plot, unfolding during the 19th century in and around the Balkans, offers complex insights and historical perspectives on cultures that are little known beyond their borders, and the main characters, whose names serve as titles of the novel’s eight chapters, each have their own intriguing cradle-to-grave biographies. In her masterful translation, Ekaterina Petrova has captured the many nuances, registers, and literary devices of Iana Boukova’s prose.”^[2]

Poetry

Her poetry collection, Notes of the Phantom Woman, received the Ivan Nikolov National Award for the most outstanding book of poetry in 2019. In 2018, a Greek-language version of it was also published in Athens under the title Drapetomania.

The Greek poet, artist, and translator Katerina Iliopoulou praised the collection, stating that “the Phantom-woman orchestrating the book is the invisibly present witness-poet, the one who has been turned into a ghost across the entire spectrum of the totalitarianism of merchandise, disguised as a cartoon-like superhero, showcasing the incredible transforming powers of poetry. Because the poetry at hand is not one of defeat but, rather, battle-ready poetry, the poetry of the present coming-to-be, which declares: we’re perfectly able to use your own weapons!”^[3] The Athens daily morning newspaper Kathimerini underlines the significance of Iana Boukova’s poetry, writing that “a pointed intellect is in charge: a restless, ironic intelligence is given utterance in a style that’s meant to smart, to cause abrasions, unburdened by the delusion of prophetic speech and the concomitant assurance of high discourse.”^[4] The Greek poet and critic Orfeas Apergis also praised the book in the newspaper Ta Nea, saying that “this book brings in contact the essay form (the philosophic, metaphysical ‘tendency’) and poetry (poetic excess), like two ever-moving, rotating grindstones that hone one another. Boukova formulates conclusions that appear scientific yet bear a poetic charge, one usually expressed in terms of terror at the metaphysical void.”^[5]

Works

Books

• Μαύρο Χαϊκού: Poetry. Athens: Ikaros, 2024, 72 p. ISBN 978-960-572-718-5
• Notes of the Phantom Woman: Poetry. New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2024, 67 p. ISBN 978-619-186-460-7
• Black Haiku: Poetry. Plovdiv: Janet 45, 2024, 88 p. ISBN 978-619-186-931-2
• Putovanje u pravcu senke: Novel. Belgrade: Blum izdavaštvo, 2023, 242 p. ISBN 978-86-6070-041-6
• Notes of the Phantom Woman: Poetry. Plovdiv: Janet 45, 2018, 67 p. ISBN 978-619-186-460-7
• К като всичко: Stories. Plovdiv: Janet 45, 2018, 2. еа., 120 p. ISBN 978-619-186-429-4
• Drapetomania: Poetry. Athens: Mikri Arktos, 2018, 64 p. ISBN 978-960-8104-98-3
• 4 Tales With no Return: Разкази. Plovdiv: Janet 45, 2011, 44 p. ISBN 978-619-186-291-7
• Traveling in the Direction of Shadow. Novel. Second revised edition Plovdiv: Janet 45, 2014, 2. ed., 311 p. ISBN 978-619-186-052-4
• Traveling in the Direction of Shadow. Novel. First edition. Sofia: Stigmata, 2009, 312 p. ISBN 978-954-336-066-6
• К като всичко: Stories. Sofia: Stigmata, 2006, 103 p. ISBN 978-954-336-016-1
• The Minimal Garden: Poetry. Athens: Ikaros Books, 2006, 56 p. ISBN 978-960-8399-26-6
• Boat in the Eye: Poetry. Sofia: Heron Press, 2000, 45 p. ISBN 978-954-336-016-1
• Diocletian Palaces: Poetry. Sofia: Svobodno poet. obshtestvo, 1995, 39 p. ISBN 954-8642-16-6

Works in anthologies and literary collections

• Boukova, Iana. (2018). The Stone Quarter [Fiction]. In: Absinthe. World Literature in Translation: Hellenisms. Michigan: Michigan Publishing Services 2018, pp. 65–78. ISBN 978-1607855095
• Boukova, Iana. (2017). The Teacher Came Back Drunk [Fiction]. In: Best European Fiction 2017, by Nathaniel Davis (Editor), Eileen Battersby (Preface), Champaign, Illinois. ISBN 978-1628971439
• Boukova, Iana. (2017). Ausgewaehlte Gedichte [Poetry]. In: Kleine Tiere zum Schlachten: Neue Gedichte aus Griechenland, von Adrian Kasnitz (Herausgeber, Uebersetzer), Köln. ISBN 978-3947676019
• Boukova, Iana. (2016). A as in Anything [Fiction]. In: Two Lines 25, Fall 2016. San Francisco, California in 2016. ISBN 978-1931883542
• Boukova, Iana. (2016). – The Minimal Garden, – Black Haiku, – For Miltos Sachtouris, – Fractal [Poetry]. In: Austerity Measures: The New Greek Poetry, by Van Dyck, Karen (Editor), New York: Penguin UK; Bilingual edition. ISBN 978-0241250624
• Boukova, Iana. (2013). Poems [Poetry]. In: Voix de la Mediterranee: Anthologie poetique 2013. Venissieux, Lyon, 2013, 123 p., ISBN 978-2845622319
• Boukova, Iana. (2012). – The Poet, All in White, – The Dusseldorf Match Plantations, – Apology on Monday Lunchtime [Poetry]. In: At the End of the World. Contemporary Poetry from Bulgaria. Bristol: Shearsman Books 2013, pp. 82–89. ISBN 978-1-84861-261-7
• Boukova, Iana. (2008). Les Pommes [Fiction]. In: Concertos pour phrase: 17 nouvelles contemporaines de Bulgarie. Paris: HB Editions, 2008, 210 p.. ISBN 978-2914581868
• Boukova, Iana. (2007). Thirteen poems [Poetry]. In: Take Five 07, Shoestring Press, Nottingham 2007, Iana Boukova p.p. 29-41. Translated by Jonathan Dunne ISBN 978-1-904885-66-5
• Boukova, Iana. (2007). – A Short Poem about the Evening and Music, – Self-Portrait on a Background of Begonias, – Balkan Naive Painters [Poetry]. In: Karaoke poetry bar, Futura, Athens 2007, pp. 58–62. ISBN 978-969-6654-64-0

Selected literary translations

• Sappho. (2019). 100+1 Fragments preface and translation into Bulgarian by Iana Boukova. Sofia : Poetry publishing house DA, 2019, 159 p. ISBN 978-619-7082-51-7
• Pindar. (2011). Pythian Odes preface and translation into Bulgarian by Iana Boukova. Sofia : Stigmata, 2011, 176 p. ISBN 978-954-336-131-1
• Sappho. (2010). 100+1 Fragments preface and translation into Bulgarian by Iana Boukova. Sofia : Stigmata, 2010, 159 p. ISBN 978-954-336-091-8
• Gaius Valerius Catullus. (2009). Poetry preface and translation into Bulgarian by Iana Boukova. Sofia : Stigmata, 2009, 176 p. ISBN 978-954-336-089-5

References

1. “Silvia Choleva, poet and writer: A ruthless game”. Sofia: К – The journal of criticism, debate and cultural pleasures. 23 November 2018.
2. “Announcing the 2021 Pen America Literary Grant Winners”. Pen America. USA. 21 January 2021.
3. “Katerina Iliopoulou, poet, artist, and translator: Burning Braile”. Athens: Oanagnostis – Magazine for books and arts. 23 November 2019.
4. “Maria Topali, poet, critic: Fertile migration to Greek letters”. Athens: Kathimerini – Daily newspaper. 8 April 2019.
5. “Orfeas Apergis, poet, critic, columnist of the newspaper Ta Nea: The poem as a field of action”. Athens: Ta Nea – Daily newspaper. 3 August 2019.