Two Words: The Blog of the Center for the Art of Translation


Alison Anderson by the Covers

Posted on February 26, 2010 by

If you drop by our Alison Anderson event on Tuesday, March 9, you're going to see some of her translations for sale. When you see these books, you might find yourself stopping to stare, as Anderson has been blessed with some of the most eye-catching covers I've seen in bookstores. (Note, not all of these books will be available at the event, but you can still buy them at your favorite local indie bookstore.) Here, for instance, is one of her latest translations, The Most Beautiful Book in the World:

The

It's hard to explain just how striking this book is when you see it face-up on a table full of new paperbacks. I still remember the first time I saw it, and the immediate impact it made on me. The colors really grab you, and then the image, centered around that floating, reading woman, draws you in to look around. I found myself almost irresistibly picking up the book.
Then there are these two, Anderson's bestselling Elegance of the Hedgehog and the follow-up (actually published first in France) Gourmet Rhapsody:
EleganceGourmet


You can see that Europa Editions made the wise decision to have Rhapsody look similar to the wildly popular Hedgehog, and to even paint the two in contrasting colors so that they would create a strong impression if they sat together at bookstores. And then the last one I wanted to share here is for Anderson's Tokyo Fiancee (also a bestseller):
Tokyo

This one offers a nice stark black-and-white image, accented, but not dominated, by that huge red spot from the Japanese flag. And, of course, if all that wasn't enough, the obvious passion connoted by the image will get people to look closer when they see it on the new paperback table.



The Translator's Toolkit: Marian Schwartz's Total Russian Resource

Posted on February 25, 2010 by

(Before we get into Marian Schwartz's offering in our Tookit series, a note: The Center will be co-sponsoring a translation workshop with Marian Schwartz on Saturday, March 20. Geared toward new translators, it will cover practical topics such as choosing projects, rights and permissions, and the publishing business. Attendees will also have a chance to undertake a hands-on translation of a passage of fiction. Spacing is limited and registration is required, so if you're interested make sure you register here.)
Like any proud literary tradition, Russia's is constantly referring to itself. Probably not more so than any other, but sometimes that's how it seems when you're the translator trying to track down a quotation. In the bad old days, before those crazy electrons started flying through the air and into our work spaces, we relied on native informants steeped in their own literature to identify an allusion. Not a bad solution. Tried and true really. But it does require human interaction and is never instantaneous (unless you happen to be that native informant's significant other, an option that eluded me forty years ago).
A few years ago I attended ATA's national conference?not a regular stop on my annual rounds?specifically to hear and meet Michele Berdy, an American expat who has lived in Moscow for decades and who writes a fine column for The Moscow Times explicating Russian vocabulary, idioms, and usage for English speakers. She was giving a workshop and delivering the Slavic Division's keynote speech. Both performances were stellar, yielding multiple insights and new information but also a fabulous tidbit (assuming tidbits can be fabulous). Berdy told of a CD that collected vast quantities of Russian literature from the eleventh to the early twentieth century. Virtually everything by virtually every writer you ever have and haven't heard of. And it was searchable.
Fast forward a year to Moscow. Locating and purchasing this CD was high on my to-do list while I was there. Friends sent me to Gorbushka, Moscow's gigantic marketplace for household goods, music, and electronics. In the Metro, I eavesdropped on the various conversations around me until I found a youthful threesome clearly headed for the land of CDs. We all got off at the Bagriotonskaya station and I followed them, as the cops say on TV.
The Gorbushka I entered is a far cry from the black market that sprung up near there in the 1980s, before CDs were widely available in Russia, on a square by the Gorbunov House of Culture. The illegal trade had been brisk. Eventually the government threatened to shut it down altogether, but instead, in the face of furious popular opposition, including spontaneous protest rallies, they repurposed the nearby Rubin factory as the new civilized and nonpiratical Gorbushka. I think they were exaggerating about at least one of those adjectives.

title=gorbushka

The Gorbushka I saw was quite clean and unscary, but there were obviously unlicensed CDs everywhere. Heck, some of these guys weren't even trying for a reasonable facsimile, and they had nothing against charging the MSRP for what looked to me like pretty sketchy goods.
Eventually I came to an out-of-the-way corner at the back of the second floor (doesn't this sound Russian already?) where I found a high-quality vendor with an encouraging assortment of CDs?and they all looked legal, i.e., quality-controlled. After all, what good would a cheap but botched CD do me once I got back to Austin?
Indeed, there it was: Русская литература от Нестора до Маяковского (Russian Literature from Nestor to Mayakovsky).*
The CD holds the equivalent of 100,000 book pages, more than 3 million words, or about 200 500-page books. 120 Russian writers and poets! The compilation uses the authoritative original texts and provides both publication data and bibliographical information on the author. Hyperlinks take me to author's notes. There's even a brief bio and portrait for each author. This is not just a tool for identifying identify literary quotations. I can also search for names, concepts, and themes in various combinations. I can even . . . read.
My own discovery was that with this tool I could trace the usage of specific words and expressions over Russian literature's entire public-domain history. I could discover how a word's meaning and use had or hadn't changed. When I find a word's lineage I learn something about a writer's artistic influences and his or her influence's influences. It's a completely new way to explore writing.
I have shelves and shelves of books in the original Russian, but more often than not I don't have what I need at a given moment. I'm often missing a particular Chekhov story or Mayakovsky poem, let alone that very special Rozanov essay.
Now I have everything.
*Last I checked, the CD was still available from DirectMedia for 350 rubles, about $12, at www.directmedia.ru.




Recent Blog Posts


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Posted on February 23, 2010 by

(Lit&Lunch 2010 continues! Our next guest will be Alison Anderson on March 9, where she'll be giving us a triple-threat of French literature: JMG Le Clézio, Christian Bobin, and Muriel Barbery. We'll be sharing various information about Anderson and these authors over the next couple weeks: f... [more]

Another Bestseller for Alison Anderson?

Posted on February 19, 2010 by

With The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Tokyo Fiancee, and a Frenchman named JMG Le Clezio, translator Alison Anderson has had her share of success, something she'll be sharing with the Center at Lit&Lunch on March 9.Now she's just published a translation of Consolation by Anna Gavalda in the UK, and it ... [more]

Susan Bernofsky Audio

Posted on February 18, 2010 by

We've made available audio from our Lit&Lunch event last week with Susan Bernofsky. The full audio is right here.In addition to talking a lot about The Tanners, the latest Walser book out from New Directions, Bernofsky read one of the microscripts from her forthcoming collection, called The Microscr... [more]

To Sell a Billion Copies

Posted on February 16, 2010 by

Translation pops up in an interesting way in this article on Chinese author Louis Cha, who has perhaps sold a billion copies of his novels (if pirated editions are accounted for). Though Cha is a powerhouse in China, not much of his work is available in English, and here's where translation pops up:... [more]

Susan Bernofsky: Rediscovering a Lost Genius

Posted on February 16, 2010 by

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How did everyone forget about Robert Walser? Although titians like Franz Kafka and Robert Musil celebrated him, Robert Walser went ignore for many years and has only recently begun attracting readers in the United States. After being featured in publications like The New Y... [more]

Drawing Winners

Posted on February 9, 2010 by

We've picked the winners of the drawing for our Natasha Wimmer-signed copy of 2666 and our Breon Mitchell-signed edition of The Tin Drum. First off, thanks to everyone who participated in this drawing by donating to the Center over the holidays. Every donation counts, and your support of the Center ... [more]

Tin Drum Review at New Statesman

Posted on February 4, 2010 by

In this review of the new translation of The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, Hans Kundnani gets in-depth with some of the issues of translation Breon Mitchell encountered:Equally significantly, Mitchell aims to convey the way the language of the original text mimics Oskar's drum. In one case, Manheim simp... [more]

The Translator's Toolkit: The Oxford English Dictionary Online

Posted on February 2, 2010 by

(The Translator's Toolkit is a recurring feature on Two Words wherein we ask translators to tell us about indispensable tools of their art. Here, Willard Wood talks about the unique virtues of the OED online. Wood's translation of The Greatest Rabbi on Earth by Denis Baldwin-Beneich appeared in the ... [more]

A Robert Walser Roundup

Posted on February 1, 2010 by

We're just 8 days from our Lit&Lunch event with Susan Bernofsky on Robert Walser, so I thought I'd present a roundup on some writing by and on Walser freely available online. The variety of venues you can find Walser in these days--as well as the quality of writing you'll see--is a real testament to... [more]