Pollster
Translation is like wrenching a soul from its body and luring it into a different one.
– Rosemarie Waldrop
Maybe it’s just me and my obsession, but still I’m convinced that even those who speak no other language than their native could be fascinated by the extent to which translation has shaped their perceptions of other cultures (it is not meagre), why certain works are translated when others more compelling are ignored, the way in which successive translations of the Bible have altered the original texts – thus beliefs – often for “political” reasons, and on it goes.
So in light of a recent mild hullabaloo on the subject, added to the body of fine sites that deal with language, linguistics, CAT and translation, ongoing discussions with a fledgling portal dedicated to books in translation have centred on a lovely possibility. Namely, reworking the site to focus largely on literary translation.
As we all know by now, translation is still widely considered a secondary craft, shadow boxing, pale imitation… and sometimes treason. Even bastions of literary criticism offer only sparse commentary on how “successful” a translation is (so despite what has been said before, we are ultimately grateful to the Complete Review for their regular solid critiques of translated works).
All English language publishers will admit that translated books are a hard sell, and that more and more it’s largely those works that can be rendered “seamlessly” (i.e. which evoke the familiar, titillate blandly or in line with existing preconceptions of a culture) – or which carry a certain prestige (cf. Proust & fellow mainstays) – that will be considered.
They say this under brows rippled with sincere regret, then turn and bow to marketing.
And so to the site…
Several possibilities have been put forth, including fun (dare I say, interactive) exposés of the process itself, like this one on translating Pessoa.
It’s all in the planning stage – plus I have the luxury of projecting grandiose because it’s not my site – but I do believe that if well fed it could help deconstruct some ivory towers and fuel a different perspective.
More than anything else, I think it would be lovely to make discussion of the beast more accessible.
So here’s where you come in…
The first question, I suppose, is whether there is any interest in this type of site. If so, what kind of content you would like to see; apart from seamy revelations about Nabokov or William Weaver, what aspects of literary translation are the most compelling and… above all if any of you awfully clever people (polyglots, closet polys and language aficionados out there would want to contribute content (ditto all the http://undiscoveredbrillance.com that some better surfer than me is going to point us to…)
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So, spill.
- I was really struck by your 29 May post, as it encapsulated what a weird business literary translation is, in terms of the accidents/ secrecy of the selection process. I’m not sure established translators quite get the web (yet). I do have one idea which I think will finally become possible in the next few years, as Print on Demand and really comfortable e-book readers become a reality, which is to keep all the out of print translations alive and accessible. What is more immediately possible is a site where readers who know what they’re talking about suggest candidates for translation into English (a kind of top ten ‘unsigned’ foreign authors. This won’t solve your May 29 problem of who gets the gig, but it might point to a world beyond Houllebecq for publishers.
— Gabriel Jun 2, 4:33pm # - I would be interested in such a site.
What would I like to see on it? What are the problems with translation?
Getting the text from one language to another is Bloody Hard Work, but nothing compared with making enough money from the last project to buy food throughout the next one. So experiences, positive and negative, from that side of the translator’s life would be helpful.
Another problem with translation is the isolation. It’s just me and my books. And I know no other translators in person. Networking through the Internet would therefore be a Good Thing.
What I would really like to see, however (and I doubt this falls within the scope of the site in question), is a publishing collective that does nothing but publish and aggressively market translated literature in the four major English-speaking countries of the world.
— Simon Jun 2, 4:51pm # - This sounds extremely interesting. I look forward to seeing how it develops, and perhaps even contributing, er, content.
— language hat Jun 2, 7:16pm # - Well, the more the merrier. But I fear that relying on our small gaggle of language bloggers for your new project may limit its success. That, I suspect, could be happening with Colin Brayton’s intriguing Blogalization site, intended as a community for multilingual bloggers. It’s been up for a few weeks now and most of the posts are by Colin. My guess is that those of us with language blogs prefer to make original posts in our own blogs and then respond to others via comments in their blogs. A neutral common space sounds like a good idea but in practice we never get around to coming up with separate material for it. At least that’s the case for me.
I think a more likely successful strategy for your literary translation portal would be to see out some fresh blood. There must be a few thousand grad students in language/lit/area studies program around the country (not to mention the world!) who are drawn to literary translation. They may or may not know what blogs are but most of them are online by now. Beating the bushes for relevant mailing lists (LISTSERVs or discussion lists) and other channels by which to make an announcement might recruit a lot of people with things to say on the topic and nowhere else to say it.
— Prentiss Riddle Jun 2, 11:02pm # - Yes, I’d be interested, primarily to read & learn, but also to contribute, though I could only really do so from a reader’s point-of-view. As to what I would like to see: I pretty much find the whole field interesting & so would not be that particular.
— misteraitch Jun 3, 3:54am # - Oops,
Yes, I realized post posting that I’d been clumsy.
Contributions to the site should by no means be confined to people who are already writing on the web, au contraire (as they say in North Bay).
— gail Jun 3, 4:32am # - I’m starting a new branch of this discussion with RFC: Literary Translation Forum which aims to outline the motivation and potential format of this project. It also demonstrates the babelguides.com forum system which could house this probject.
— day Jun 3, 2:47pm # - I would love to follow such a site. I love the idea of our imperfect vision and would enjoy overhearing you folk talk about your attempts to allow me a peak at others.
— KJC Jun 4, 1:59am # - I would read such a forum with great interest.
I would also like to see a place where extracts from various works are posted and multiply (dare I say competitively?) translated by readers, those translations discussed, semantics compared, etc.
And, though you’ve warned against it, I’d like to see a shrine, buring incense and all, to William Weaver and Edith Grossman.
— Jack Rusher Jun 4, 12:00pm # - I think this website would be kickass. Personally I would like to know about the problems that face translators. For instance, where or who do you turn to if you are stuck? Does the editor often know the original language of the text you are translating? I guess I would like to read about the process of a translation and why it is so rewarding (I’d like to translate someday myself).
Another topic of interest would be idiomatic expressions. What happens when a translator comes across a slang term he or she isn’t familiar with? What if a word or expression is so culture specific that it would take multiple words to convey it?
Good luck if you do decide to create this. I deeply believe you would have a solid and faithful audience.
— claire Jun 4, 5:05pm # - I would like to see some time and/or space devoted to the general reader – anything that will make the reader and reviewer aware of the art of translation.
Have done such pieces – would be happy to help if the idea works for you.
EG
— Estelle Gilson Jun 5, 11:27am # - I think I care more about readers having access to the works I am translating then that they know my name; but I would like the press to pick up on translators and hail them when translations that open up hitherto unknown literatures appear.
— Simon Jun 5, 6:46pm # - The main reason I come to your site is to read about translation and literature (and living in the South of France, of course). So for me, more can only mean merrier.
— matt Jun 7, 9:45am # - Count me in as audience and participant.
— Caterina Fake Jun 9, 12:46am # - Hi Gail,
I agree with Prentiss, fresh blood is needed. The idea is lovely, but the ideal thing would be to get the literary translators involved. Translators have been notoriously slow to catch on to blogging. For content providers/ authors of articles, you may want to try Biblit, the Italian translators mailing list and the people who regularly contribute to the Literary Forum at ProZ. Jacek and Roomy are names that come to my mind. There is also Litterati at Ygps, mostly Portuguese literary translation.
About this sentence: “Even bastions of literary criticism offer only sparse commentary on how “successful” a translation is ”. The sages say that translation criticism ought to be considered a discipline in itself. The literary critics already have plenty of work analyzing the opus, I’d rather have a translation critic than a literary critic passing judgement on a translator’s work.
ME
— Enigmatic Mermaid Jun 9, 8:25am # - I’m interested! I love community projects, so community translations and community annotation projects (like our Slovo project) are big in my mind.
— Chris Jun 9, 5:43pm #
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