Mark Polizzotti

I can’t believe how much I enjoyed this book. For someone who preached the total transformation of humanity, Breton failed in many ways: he was egotistical, petty, sexist, homophobic, and occasionally violent (or at least willing to have others commit violence on his behalf). Yet he also had startlingly original ideas, and he galvanized an impressive circle of talented writers, poets, and artists to produce actual masterpieces of the modern period. He was capable of doing very funny show more things, too, despite taking himself far too seriously. Polizzotti deserves considerable credit for writing a biography that is consistently engaging and enjoyable. I can't recommend it enough. show less

The old Italian pun “traduttore, tradittore” has long governed the discussion on translation. It casts the translator as traitor, someone who walks a fine line between fidelity to the source text and compliance with the norms of the language into which the text is being translated. Polizzotti, a primarily French-to-English translator, delves into this discussion and shows how translation matters, why it matters, and what the purpose is. Translation is not inferior to the source text: it show more is its own artistic creation.

As a former translator myself, I naturally enjoyed this book. I especially liked his focus on more practical aspects of translation; translation theory always seems to be a bit full of itself, from my viewpoint. Polizzotti shows examples of variant translations and discusses the different approaches to translation in general, particularly in more “untranslatable” genres such as poetry. I’d recommend this if you like to read books in translation or even if you don’t—it might convince you to give one a go. show less

While I find the 33 1/3 books of varying quality, obviously dependant on the author, this one was interesting. I find you'll get one of three things out of this series of books.

1 - An in-depth look at the musicality and musicianship of the album, with talks of major and minor chords and tones and semi-tones. These are the ones I just stop reading.

2 - A deep dive strictly into the album, typically song-by-song and the merits (or lack thereof) of each one. These are usually interesting.

3 - A show more deep dive into the album, but also a broader look at the artist's life and times during the writing and recording, giving much more context into the making of the album. These are the ones I value and enjoy the most.

This book falls firmly into that third category. I'm not the biggest Dylan fan. I enjoy most of his better-known work, but I was simply born a few years too late to soak up the tumultousness of the times he wrote about, and buy the time I was digging into his music, I'd heard much of it before, so I couldn't discover it like all those that were blown away by the first plays of the album, or hearing it on the radio for the first time.

That being said, the author does a great job of taking us through each song, as well as the differences between the versions on record versus the outtakes, and gives a solid insight into where Dylan's head was at at the time.

Good stuff. show less

While this is the best of the 33 1/3 books about famous musicians and one of their distinguishing albums it is still a bore. The are a few highlights of trivia about Dylan but otherwise a lot of guessing. Honestly, how many times can you play semantic mind farts about what your interpretation is over the lyrics, album cover, and the artist's mood. 168 pages that would have been better reduced to 16 at best.