Little / for careenagers (1970)

Little began with the title Little Baron Snorck, and LZ wrote the first 8 chapters in 1950, then dropped the novel for many years. On completing Catullus, “A”-18, -19 and -21 in 1966-1967, LZ turned back to Little sometime in August 1967, first revising the early chapters and then completing the novel on 28 July 1969, before continuing with the final push to complete “A”. The first eight chapters were published in Kulchur 5 (Spring 1962) under the original title and then by Black Sparrow Press in 1967; Grossman brought out the complete novel in 1970.

Commentary

Golden, Seán. “’Whose morsel of lips will you bite?’” Some Reflections on the Role of Prosody and Genre as Non-Verbal Elements in the Translation of Poetry.” Nonverbal Communication and Translation. Ed. Fernando Poyatos. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins, 1997. 217-245.

Sloboda, Nicholas. “Introducing the Ludic: The Poetics of Play in Louis Zukofsky’s Fiction.” English Studies in Canada 23.2 (June 1997): 201-215.

Twitchell-Waas, Jeffrey. “Louis Zukofsky.” Review of Contemporary Fiction 22.3 (Fall 2002): 37-52.

Paul Zukofsky’s notes appended to the Dalkey Archive edition of the Collected Fiction identify the numerous real-life figures, both famous and not so, that appear in this autobiographical novel.

One of the peculiarities of Little is the recurrent interest in ancient Welsh literature, especially homophonic reditions from the poetry. LZ’s primary source texts for these translations are:

Gwyn Williams. An Introduction to Welsh Poetry: From the Beginnings to the Sixteenth Century. London: Faber and Faber, 1953.

___. The Burning Tree: Poems from the First Thousand Years of Welsh Verse. London: Faber and Faber, 1956.

For the most part, LZ draws from the first volume, which unless otherwise noted is the volume referred to below, but some instances can only be found in the latter. In both cases, William includes the original Welsh as well as his own translations.

26         “when I was sick and lay abed…: the various verses exchanged by Little and Dala through 28 are all taken from Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885).

40         eisteddfod: annual competitive festival of Welsh poets and musicians.

48         O T’d aerie too hid his Strad…: homophonic translation from the Welsh Black Book of Carmarthen, a 13th century compilation of diverse poetry. The longer poem from which this stanza comes is not attributed to Llywarch Hen’s son, but concludes with a stanza in praise of one of his sons who was killed in a raid the poem describes. LZ’s “translation,” or at least the first line, refers back to the phony Stradivarius label in Little’s violin on page 13:
Ottid eiry tohid istrad.
diuryssint vy deduir y cad.
mi nidaw, anaw nimgad.

Snow is falling, the way is covered,
warriors hurry on to battle,
I will not go, my wound won’t let me. (Williams 52)

54         Alive ‘n’ I’ll my lamb wed…: from the Welsh attributed to Llwarch Hen (9th century?) found in the Red Book of Hergest:
Alaf yn eil meil am ved
nyt eidun detwyd dyhed
amaerwy adnabot amyned. 

Cattle in the shed, a cup for mead;
the happy do not ask for fighting.
Patience is the fringe of knowing. (Williams 35-36)

66         Laila’s Majnun: the ancient Persian/Arabic tale of Laila and Majnun, often compared with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, summarized by Basil Bunting in a 5 Sept. 1949 letter to LZ: “Laila’s parents refused to let her marry him and he went mad, the stereotype of the lovers who go mad all through romantic poetry in Europe as well as the East” (qtd. in Sister Victoria Marie Forde, S.C., “The Translations and Adaptations of Basil Bunting.” In Basil Bunting: Man and Poet, ed. Carroll F. Terrell. Orono, ME: National Poetry Foundation, 1981: 327). As Bunting says, the story is pervasive in many forms throughout Persian and Arabic writing and beyond, and in a previous letter Bunting had sent LZ a translation of a poem attributed to Sa’di that mentions “Laila Majnun’s plight” (Collected Poems 137). Also mentioned at 169 and Bottom 120.

70         from Gorhoffedd of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd: / is the dent roc towered: see 126 below, the last quoted line.

71         Teeth help to keep the tongue quiet: LZ’s slight revision of Williams’ translation of the preceding line on page 70 by Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd; see 126 below.

119       not o’ wame a’ that…: as LZ indicates, from the legendary Welsh bard, Taliesin:
Nyt o vam athat
pan ymdigonat.
am creu am creat.
o naw rith llafanat.
o ffrwyth o ffrwytheu.
o ffreyth duw dechrreu.
o vriallu a blodeu bre.
o vlawt gwyt a godeu.
o prid o pridret
pan ymdigonet.
o vlawt danat
o dwfyr ton nawvet.

Neither mother nor father
was my maker;
my source and my mould
were the sense, ninefold,
springing from fruits,
the fruit of God’s roots
primroses and hill bloom,
of tree and shrub blossom,
of earth and of clay,
on my birth day,
of nettle bloom
and the ninth wave’s foam. (Williams 30)

126       Courtesy whin do’n’ dee were nighed…: as LZ indicates, from the Gorhoffedd of the Welsh poet Hywel ap Owain Gwynedd (12th century):
Keueisy vun duun diwyrnawd
keueisy dwy handed mey eu molawd
keueisy deir a phedeir a phawd
keueis bump o rei gwymp eu gwyngnawd
keueis chwech heb odech pechawd
Gwenglaer uch gwengaer yt ym daer hawd
keueisy sseith ac ef gweith gordygnawd
keueisy with yn hal pwyth peth or wawd yr geint
ys da deint rac tauawd.

I had a girl of the same mind one day;
I had two, their praise be the greater;
I had three and four and fortune;
I had five, splendid in their white flesh;
I had six without concealing sin;
a beauty above the white fort brought me debt;
I had seven and a grievous time of it;
I had eight,  paying part of the praise I sang.
            Teeth are good to keep the tongue quiet.  (Williams 82-83)

127       A gait   an unhurried   eat gear hastened—: from the Welsh?

            The Mabinogion and Manawyddan the Son of Llyr: The Mabinogion is a collection of ancient Welsh prose stories, probably originally from the 11th century. Manawyddan the Son of Llyr is one of these tales, frequently mentioned throughout the rest of Little. In the tale, Manawyddan with Pryderi and their wives, find themselves in an empty waste land after a mysterious mist descends on Wales, so they move to England where they make a living at various handcrafts—as saddlemakers, shield makers and cobblers—but each time their workmanship is so superior to that of the locals that the latter drive them out. Although Pryderi urges that they resist, Manawyddan insists on remaining calm, moving to a new town and beginning again in a new trade. Eventually they return to Dyfed (Wales), experience various strange adventures before finally managing to lift the enchantment that has been plaguing their land. However, it is the first part of the tale that most interests LZ, which is importantly evoked in two episodes at 131 and 175; see also 144, 159.

128       “The Lady of the Fountain”: as LZ indicates the ninth tale in Lady Charlotte Guest’s translation of The Mabinogion.

134       Gear a grief’s ascent be ant geat night…: from the Y Gododdin of the Welsh poet Aneirin (6th century):
Gwyr a gryssyassant buant gytneit
hoedyl vyrryon  medwon uch med hidleit
gosgord vynydawc enwawc en reit
gwerth eu gwled o ved vu eu heneit
caradawc a madawc pyll ac yeuan
gwgawn a gwiawn gwynn a chynvan
peredur arueu dur gwawrdur ac aedan
achubyat enggawr ysgwydawr angkyman
a chet lledessynt wy lladassan
neb y eu tymhyr nyt atcorsan.

The men who attached had lived together,
in their brief lives were drunk on distilled mead,
Mynyddawg’s army famous in battle.
Their lives paid for their feast of mead.
Caradawg and Madawg Pyll and Ieuan,
Gwgawn and Gwiawn, Gwynn and Cynvan,
Peredur of steel weapons, Gwawrddur and Aedden,
attackers in battle, they had their shield broken;
and though they were being killed they killed.
Not one came back to his belongings.   (Williams 23)

141       Hywel and Aneirin: see 126 and 134.

144       Parens., Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd— / panic air eke it pan arc y’pate frying…: Parens. = parentheses; although L. means parents. LZ identifies this as from the Welsh of Hywl Owain Gwynedd (12th century), “Ode VII.” LZ picks out various lines:
Pann ucher uchet, pann achupet freinc,
          Pann ffaraon foet,
     Pann vu yryf am gyryf am galet,
     Pann vei aryf am varyf a vyryet;

Yng goet Gorwynwy yng gordibet Lloegyr
          A llygru y threfet,
     Llaw ar groes, llu a dygrysset;

A llad a lliwet a gwaetlet y levyn
          A gwaetliw ar giwet
     a gwaetlen am benn a bannet
     a gwaetlan a granny n greulet.

When the sky darkened above, when foreigners were taken,
          When the king was routed,
     When warriors were armed for battle,
     When there was a weapon struck at a beard;

In Gorwynwy woods punishing England
          And spoiling its homesteads;
     With a hand on the cross a host rushed forward.

There was killing, and a band with blood-sprinkled blades,
          And the colour of blood on a rabble;
     A bloody sheet over heads and leaders,
     A place of blood and blood-stained cheeks.     (Burning Tree 78-79)

144       Parens., Aneirin / lour mom ai dagger are y’ hám rant: from the Welsh of Aneirin, Y Gododdin, line 673:
llawer mama e deigyr ar y hamrant.
And many a mother with tears on her eyelids. (Burning Tree 26-27)

176       pye, you bed whom?...: although LZ identifies these lines as from Llywarch Hen, actually it is from “The Stanzas of the Graves” in the Black Book of Carmarthen. The confusion is due to Williams’ mention that some scholars have attempted to relate these stanzas to the work of Llywarch Hen:
Piev y bet hun.
Bet hun a hun. gowin ymi. mi se gun.

Whose is this grave?
It’s so and so’s grave. Ask me. I know. (Williams 56)

176       air panicked        die our aneirin…: as LZ indicates, from the Book of Aneirin, although as Williams points out, it appears clearly to be by a later poet. Cf. LZ’s opening phrase with his version of Hywel ab Owain Gwynedd at 144:
Er pan aeth daear ar aneirin
nu neut ysgaras nat a gododin.

Since earth has covered Aneirin
now song has left the land of Gododdin. (Williams 24)