“When I began translating, I thought of how we used to buy large blocks of ice during summer since a refrigerator was still a luxury item back then. A block of ice is tied up with straw that also functions as a handle. I thought about how even a transparent item like ice has such specific cultural context and how it would be perceived in its new place amongst perfectly shaped fridge-made ice cubes. A bulky ice block would be just wrong amongst clean, straw-free ice cubes. When I use another text in my writing I am also displacing it to see how wrong it could be and to see if any new connections can be made in its new geography.“–Don Mee Choi at Lantern Review.
