We talked to Isobel Williams about her fascinating and illuminating new translation of selected poems of Catullus, illustrated with her drawings of the Japanese art of rope binding, shibari. Our discussion ranges over the connections between the world of shibari and the emotional struggles depicted in Catullus’s poetry, the way translation and learning Latin can feel like being tied up in, and untangling, knots, and much more.
Content Note: fetish, sex, brief mention of sexual violence, discussion of enslavement and use of slavery as metaphor
Blog about drawing shibari (Japanese rope bondage): Boulevardisme
Straight blog about drawing: Drawing from an uncomfortable position
Website: Isobel Williams
Twitter: @otium_Catulle
Instagram: @isobelwilliams2525
From Isobel: “For the online book launch, I compiled a video (>20 minutes) of self and others reading in Latin and English from the book. It starts with Sappho in ancient Greek and ends with Shakespeare, to show the continuity Sappho -> Catullus -> Ovid -> Shakespeare (it contains no Ovid). The video is here 'Catullus: Shibari Carmina' - readings and performances - YouTube”
Link to the book for Canada and US: Catullus: Shibari Carmina | Independent Publishers Group
James Methven’s Precious Asses – highly recommended
Irish poet and mediaevalist Bernard O’Donoghue – Poet, Academic, Medievalist and Literary Critic
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