Mildred Faintly
Current City, State, Country
Birth City, State, Country
Biography
Mildred Faintly was born in Paterson NJ, apparently male, and grew up as a runaway teen in Greenwich Village of the 1970’s. She passed the GED test on a dare, and somehow got accepted into Columbia—only to be thrown out for alcoholic insanities. She then cleaned up her act, was readmitted and went on graduate from Columbia in history, then earn a PhD in Classics from Brown—arguably another act of alcoholic insanity.
After a few years of adjunct professoring, which included a stint teaching History of Religions at Haifa University, she found steadier employment as a high school Latin teacher, then as a math teacher when the bottom fell out of the Latin market.
This dispiriting itinerary of day jobs concealed a more meaningful career as a poet and translator. Over the years she acquired seventeen languages, taught at the Naropa Institute, and translated poetry, especially from Italian, Hebrew Yiddish and Ancient Egyptian.
For the last five years she has reviewed books for the Science Fiction/Fantasy themed online literary magazine 96th of October. Since transitioning in 2023, she has dedicated herself to the feminist literary project of translating into English the greatest works of world poetry written by women.
What is the relationship between Judaism and/or Jewish culture and your poetry?
Jewishness has always been central to my literary work. Though I never received a traditional cheder education, and my Aramaic is less than rudimentary, I studied the Hebrew Bible in great depth from a historical “higher criticism” point of view, to which end I learned the languages and literature of several adjacent and related cultures (Latin, Greek, Egyptian). In my twenties I became interested in Hasidism and Kabbalah, and passed a few years “tisch-hopping” in Brooklyn, before moving to Israel, where I hoped to ground my spirituality in a Zionist reality, with the help of Aharon Amir and the surviving members of the “Canaanite” literary movement.
Although I never found secure mooring in any of the Judaisms I encountered, each one added to my understanding of this 3,000 year civilization, which is as rich and complex as those of India or China. Freud, Kant and Eliade have been key catalysts in deepening my critical understanding of Jewishness.
As I approach the age of 70, I believe I am finding the last key to the puzzle of my particular Judaism in the voices of Jewish women, now resounding as they have not for two thousand years.
Published Works
Translation:
Styx (Ben Yehuda Press, 2024) (translated from the German)
The Case of Horus versus Seth (Daniel 13, 2024) (translated from the Ancient Egyptian)
Poetry:
A Peep Out of Me (96th of October Editions, 2024)
Author Site
Links to Sample Works
Current Title
Education
Columbia University, B.A.
Brown University, Ph.D.