Early concrete
Sir: After reading Martin Seymour-Smith's re- view of the translations of Christian Morgen- stern's Gallows Songs by W. D. Snodgrass and Lore Segal (6 September), I should like to point out to him and to readers the existent transla- tion by Max Knight published by the University of California Press.
Mr Seymour-Smith rightly wonders if 'non- sense' is a misnomer when attached to Morgen- stern's verse. He was one of those artists who managed to build up a personal aesthetic from a certain mode of verse, which just happened to be humorous or 'nonsensical.' To return to Mr Seymour-Smith's analogies, this is something which Satie managed to do, but as for Charles Ives, he certainly did not. From the brief selec- tions of this translation included in the review, it would seem unnecessary to anyone who knows the Knight translation to mention the banality of the new translation.
It is precisely because Max Knight has recog- nised this aesthetic which transcended the super- ficial implications of the humour or 'nonsense' that it seems all the more incredible that he is not mentioned.
Simon Cutts The Trent Book Shop, Pavilion Road, Treat Bridge, Nottingham
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