In Translation

March 4, 2013
The last decade has seen significant growth in the study of literary translation, including the MLA’s increased readiness to set standards for evaluating translations. With this anthology, editors Bernofsky (Foreign Words: Translator-Authors in the Age of Goethe) and Allen (translator and editor of The Selected Writings of José Martí) hope to educate current and prospective translators to see their work as “a particularly complex ethical position” rather than a “‘problematic necessity.’” The book is divided between theory and practice, though all essays focus on the experience of translators. The 18 translators included—among them Eliot Weinberger (translator of Bei Dao, Jorge Luis Borges, and Octavio Paz), David Bellos (Georges Perec), and Haruki Murakami (whose afterword to his Japanese translation of The Great Gatsby is itself translated into English reprinted here)—offer memorable anecdotes. Maureen Freely describes the “intense and volatile exchanges” with Orhan Pamuk that followed her first translation of the author’s work; José Manuel Prieto explains the historical context, phrase by phrase, that made Osip Mandelstam’s “Epigram Against Stalin” into “the sixteen lines of a death sentence.” Literary translation is specialized enough that many authors reference the same canonical texts, and the chapters occasionally blur together. Overall, the book makes for a strong introduction to the field.

April 1, 2013
Translators reflect on their work: its mechanics, frustrations, rewards and meanings. Editors Allen (Modern Languages and Comparative Literature/Baruch Coll.) and Bernofsky (MFA Program/Columbia Univ.) have assembled a knowledgeable and articulate collection of translators who describe in considerable detail a process that most readers think little about. Eliot Weinberger notes that "translators are the geeks of literature." David Bellos talks about the problem of maintaining a sense of "foreignness" in a translation. Several writers also talk about the issue of whether to maintain some of the words of the original in a translation--a way to retain a sense of the original. Catherine Porter raises an issue that a number of the writers mention: their lack of status in the academic world and their virtual invisibility with readers. Several essays deal with the problems translators face in specific languages. Maureen Freely writes about translating Orhan Pamuk from Turkish into English; Jason Grunebaum discusses the problems of translating from Hindi to English. If the audience is South Asian, perhaps one method is appropriate, but if the audience is American, then what? There is some translation playfulness in the volume, too: Haruki Murakami describes his translation of The Great Gatsby, an essay that, in turn, Ted Goossen translates from Japanese into English--and then follows with some reflections of his own. Lawrence Venuti discusses the difficulty of translating from archaic literary forms. Co-editor Bernofsky describes how she revises--usually four drafts--as she prepares her own translations from German, and Clare Cavanagh closes the collection by showing how the villanelle, a poetic form unknown in Poland, arrived there via translation. Perhaps too textually dense for general readers, but the book raises and clarifies a variety of significant issues about the many decisions translators must contend with.

COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2013

Translations are a fixture in America's literary landscape, responsible for introducing writers whose work may have otherwise been unknown in this country. Editors Allen (languages and literature, Baruch Coll.; To Be Translated or Not To Be) and Susan Bernofsky (writing program, Columbia Univ.; Foreign Words) have assembled an anthology of essays written by translators on the task of translating. There are both well-known names (e.g., Haruki Murakami) and the lesser known (e.g., Jacopone da Todi, anyone?) representing the two sides of the translating equation--from this language into that language and vice versa. The two parts of the book, "The Translator in the World" and "The Translator at Work," address the necessity of literary translation as both a subject for theory studies and as practice in the craft of writing. Much as Edith Grossman's Why Translation Matters maintained the importance of translation as an expression of humanity, Allen and Bernofsky's compilation advocates for a "culture of translation" to strengthen the world's cultural pluralism. VERDICT An obvious choice for writers and readers interested in translations; challenging but also accessible to the nonacademic reader.--Elizabeth Heffington, Lipscomb Univ. Lib., TN

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.