False Friends

False Friends is concerned with the poetics of translation, with the ever-shifting border made material in the crossings between languages. This DICHTionary (Dichtung = Poetry in German) is an alphabet of prose poems following the double-helix pattern of so-called false friends in the German & the English—words that look and/or sound similar in both languages, but differ in meaning. At any given moment, each of these words might be used with German in mind, or English, or both.

Other times these “friends” do not appear explicitly in their poems but instead remain standing behind them with suitcases full of etymology & misread linguistic maps. In the encounters between these words, mistranslation or misunderstanding is perceived as a program to generate poetry, a space of constant transfers & a playful plea for the irritations of translation in a world more & more defined by a globalized language & culture.

Translated by Susan Bernofsky, with additional translations by Traver Pam Dick, Eugene Ostashevsky, Erín Moure, Ute Schwartz, & Uwe Weiß.

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The poet, translator & editor Uljana Wolf was born in East Berlin. Her poems have been published in journals & anthologies worldwide, such as Das Gedicht, manuskripte, kursywa, Poetry Ireland Review, Lyrik von Jetzt (Dumont, 2003), New European Poetry (Graywolf, 2008), Dichten No. 10: 16 New German Poets (Burning Deck, 2008), the Chicago Review, Harper’s Bazaar, Luces Intermitentes. Nueve poetas recientes de Alemania (Guadalajara, Mexico) & Telephone Journal. Wolf published two books of poetry, kochanie ich habe brot gekauft (kookbooks 2005) & falsche freunde (kookbooks 2009), as well as the essay “BOX OFFICE” about the prose poem (Lyrikkabinett München, 2009). For her work, Wolf has been awarded several prizes & grants, such as the Peter-Huchel-Preis & the Dresdner Lyrikpreis (both 2006) & the RAI Medienpreis at Lyrikpreis Meran (2008)