‘Catch of the day’, Finuala Dowling

Vangst van de dag

Mijn therapeute schudt haar hoofd.
‘Het is complexer dan dat, zegt ze.

Zelfs als ik aarzelend begin:
–Voor mij schijnt het, zeg ik –
haar hypothese-stijl imiterend,
haar kikkervisjes van mijn eigen analyse voorspiegelend –
Hierin ben ik opnieuw fout.

Leven kun je niet als een vis binnehalen.

Daarna laat ze me buiten.
Mijn auto staat beneden onder een gomboom
en ik wil zeggen:

Voor mij schijnt het dat wat we hier bekijken
een witte Toyotta Carolla is, geparkeerd onder een gomboom.

Juist voor één moment zonder dubbelzinnigheid !
Om aan te voelen -zelfs maar even-dat ik gelijk heb,
dat ik vasthou -zelfs maar kort- het ding dat me ontglipt.

Onder de eucalyptus
slaapt mijn Toyata vredevol

maar hij is geen vis.

Neen, Het is complexer dan dat.

Catch of the Day

My therapist shakes her head.
It’s much more complex than that, she says.

Even if I begin hesitantly:
– It seems to me, I say –
mimicking her style of hypothesis,
dangling before her some tadpole of my own analysis –
I’m wrong again in this.

Life cannot be scooped up like a fish.

Afterwards she sees me out.
My car is parked beneath a gumtree
and I want to say:

It seems to me what we are looking at here
is a white Toyota Corolla parked beneath a gumtree.

Just to have one moment with no ambiguity!
To feel – even once – that I’m right,
that I’m holding – however briefly – the thing that slips away.

Beneath the eucalyptus
my Toyota sleeps in peace

but it is not a fish.

No. It’s much more complex than that.

Finuala Dowling was born in Cape Town in 1962, the seventh child of radio personality Eve van der Byl and broadcaster/copywriter Paddy Dowling. Her previous novels are What Poets Need, Flyleaf and Homemaking for the Down-at-Heart, which won the 2012 MNet prize for fiction. The Fetch is her fourth novel.

Dowling established her literary career as a poet. Her first collection, I flying, won the Ingrid Jonker Prize; her second, Doo-Wop Girls of the Universe, was a co-winner of the Sanlam prize, and her third, Notes from the Dementia Ward, won the Olive Schreiner Prize. She has been invited to read her poetry internationally.

In addition to novels and poetry, Dowling has published short stories in national and international anthologies, and has had plays and skits performed on stage and radio. She has published widely in the field of education.

Dowling is currently senior lecturer in the Centre for Extra-Mural Studies at UCT. She has a D.Litt from Unisa, where she taught English for several years. She has also taught English and creative writing at the University of Stellenbosch. She was married to the late writer, actor and raconteur, Guy Willoughby, and has a daughter, Beatrice.

·Finuala is an Irish name which means “white shoulder” and relates to a myth about a swan.
·She has given readings of her work at the Aldeburgh Festival in the United Kingdom, as well as at various literary festivals in South Africa.
·Along with her sisters, Cara and Tessa Dowling, she has formed a theatre company called Dowling Sister Productions. They have regular music and reading events, as well as cabaret performances.

Prises de la Journée

Mon thérapeute secoue la tête.
C’est beaucoup plus complexe que cela, dit-elle.

Même si je commence à en hésitant:
– Il me semble, dis –je –
imitant son style de l’hypothèse,
pendantes devant elle quelques têtard de ma propre analyse –
Je suis de nouveau mal dans ce.

La vie ne peut pas être ramassé comme un poisson.

Par la suite elle me voit.
Ma voiture est garée sous un kijiji
et je tiens à dire:

Il me semble que ce que nous recherchons ici, c’
blanche est une Toyota Corolla garé sous un kijiji.

Juste pour avoir un instant sans ambiguïté!
De sentir – encore une fois – que je suis de droite,
que je suis holding – même brièvement – la chose qui se dérobe.

Sous les eucalyptus
ma Toyota dort en paix

mais il n’est pas un poisson.

Pas de. C’est beaucoup plus complexe que cela.