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About the author
Brief information and picture at Ars Interpres, on
whose editorial advisory board I sit.
About my work
For the kind of writing I do - and this includes translations as well as original work - the printed page isn't always an adequate format. The web is not ideal, either: the work I have focused on most is intended for live performance. In many cases music is involved. In some, choreography as well. I began to see some time ago that, pending full productions or finished performances, the web could offer a better idea of these "works in progress" than a bare text alone. Sound clips, images, performance notes, essays on the historical background and aesthetics of this particular kind of work - all this could serve both to give potential producers and performers a better idea of what the work is aiming at, and at the same time hopefully offer something of interest to a general online audience.
But just as the printed page has its own aesthetic, the web, too, ought to be something more than a mere conveyance. Though I am much less attuned to the visually oriented aesthetics of web design than I am to music and the spoken word, I do have an interest in making thought-out "web-specific" versions of certain works, as well as offering features - like the pages on recitation of ancient Greek - that seem ideally suited for the kind of multimedia presentation that the web facilitates. The web-specific aspect of these pages, though at present secondary, is something I will be trying to develop in the future.
All content on the site is provided free of charge, although obviously it costs me something to produce. If you would like to donate something to help defray the costs, and to support my work generally, you may do so by clicking on the button below. I am not a registered nonprofit, so your donations may not be tax deductible. They will, however, be very much appreciated.
Alan Shaw
Donations by mail or postal correspondence may be sent to:
505 Court St. #3J, Brooklyn NY, 11231.
Update Log
8/08/03
Greek recitation pages added: sound clips of Homer and Aeschylus in Greek, with texts, translations, discussion of issues of pronunciation and vocal interpretation.
6/22/03
Links to my translations of Regina Derieva's poems added to home page. Onsite
page added for one of these poems.
3/1/2003
I have added the Old World Sonnets to the poetry section, as well as publication
history of the selected poems, links to Russian translations of three of
them by Regina Derieva, and various links.
1/1/2003
This site replaces my Uranus web site at http://members.aol.com/afrshaw/shpages.htm.
Please report any bugs or broken links.
Thank you, and enjoy.
-Alan Shaw (alanshaw@prosoidia.com)