TWO VOICES: Carolina de Robertis on Bonsai

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In this podcast from the Center for the Art of Translation, award-winning author and translator Carolina de Robertis discusses her translation of the Chilean novel Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra.

Bonsai won Chile's prestigious national literary award in 2006, and the book made such an impact that one critic called it "the end of an era, or the beginning of another, in the nation's letters." The book sparked a small firestorm within the Chilean literary community--was this sexy, comical work the antidote to the somber, weighty books of Roberto Bolaño? Marcela Valdes thought so, writing in The Nation that those who consider "Roberto Bolaño the pole star of contemporary Chilean fiction will be jolted by Zambra's little book."

We read Bonsai in English thanks to Carolina de Robertis, who translated the book for Melville House in late 2008. In the podcast she talks about how she discovered it while in Latin America and first read it as a contraband photocopy. She also talks about many of the translation decisions she made to produce a wonderful English version of Zambra's playful, poetic, and often enigmatic prose.

Uncommonly for translators in the United States, de Robertis is an acclaimed author in addition to being a noted translator. Her first novel, The Invisible Mountain, was named one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, BookList, and O, the Oprah Magazine, and it received the the Rhegium Julii Debut Prize.

Although de Robertis is a lauded author currently working on her second book, she remains dedicated to translation, which she discusses in this podcast. As she stated in an interview, "I'm passionate about literary translation--for the thrill of it, for the way it sharpens a writer's tools, and for the crucial role it has in making literature accessible across borders."