Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature by Emily Wilson

I have heard that in Japan, translators are well known and respected almost as much as authors. In the English speaking world, they are almost treated as an afterthought. However, translators play a huge role in how we experience works of literature. This can be especially important with ancient works. Most of the popular Greek works of today were experienced as popular culture. They were in the vernacular of the day and would be more akin to a superhero movie than work of literature. Alas, we often experience them in archaic translations. This causes a barrier to their understanding. Translators also struggle with the feel of the work. One word may be translated exactly with a 30 word phrase, but then you've lost the flow. A single word may be better even if it is not exact. How do you get the rhythm and meter in different languages? What about slang and scatalogical language? And what about different dialects present in the original?

In this book, the author explores her experience with different ancient works and the art of translation. It is filled with interesting examples of trade offs made in translation and how she feels about it. I would love to see more translated works accompanied by a discussion from the translator.

Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles

Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles by Lydia Davis

Lydia Davis got bit by the language bug when she lived in Germany as a young child. Since then, she has gone on to learn other languages and translated many works into English as well as written her own works in English. The essays in the book cover a number of different types of translation. A traditional example is translation of a French work into English. Other forms of translation include translating English into more modern English and translating for herself as she reads Norwegian.

There is some long discussion on Proust. The work has already been translated and updated before. This gives many opportunities to look at the original and the various translations. There are a variety of tradeoffs in the translation. Sometimes there may not be a single word that matches what was in the other languages. Trying to get the flow from language to another can be challenging. Looking at previous translations also provides insight.

She finds translating a good way to "wake up" or break out of a rut. I see it as a creative endeavor that has some tight bounds. This provides a joy of understanding multiple languages and the comparison. She enjoyed reading a non-traditional Norwegian novel by Dag Solstad as a way of familiarizing herself with Norwegian.

Hilma af Klint: A Biography

Hilma af Klint: A Biography by Julia Voss

Hilma af Klint was a Swedish abstract artist who was deemed by the Nazis to produce degenerate art. She had ordered the bulk of her works to remain outside the public view for decades after she died. Her greatest fame has come after the works have recently come into view. She lived in a patriarchal time in Sweden and adopted strong counter-cultural views. She was one of the few women to persist in getting an appropriate education and doing things that were thought to be reserved for men. She had views of fluid sexuality and spiritualism. She was willing to tackle taboo subject matter. The bulk of her well known works were abstract. The biography presents her from a distance, and portrays an original, "different" artist.

Essays One

Essays One by Lydia Davis

Kafka had an influence on Lydia Davis' writing style. That says enough. She had a career translating books (primarily from the French) as well as writing (especially short stories.) The essays here bounce around various styles, with a lot of free association and stream of conscious writing. Sometimes a piece of SPAM email can inspire a short story. Other times short story may end up looking more like a poem. It is all good. She said she has another book devoted to translation, but it still gets ample mention here. Both translation and writing involve a significant amount of editing and rewriting. It is an art to distill the meaning in the appropriate format.

Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything

Translation is an interesting endeavor. No too languages are exactly alike. Meanings of words evolve over time. Even if words started from the same root, they may have different nuances today. Grammatical structures may also differ. Poetry can be even more challenging as meter, rhyme and association are all different.

The European Union has declared that each different language version of a law is official. There is no source and translation. However, this has resulted in court challenges where one version of the law ends up having a slightly different meaning than another. Thus, you can't get away from comparing different "official" versions.

There is also the concept of "translating up" and "translating down". There are also sometimes translations where the source includes different dialects or even text in the target language. When translating a Russian novel with French to French what do you do? Do you just leave the French as French? Or do you do something else to make it clear that it was in a different language than the main novel? How do you show accents that are written in different ways?

The translator plays a key role in changing the way in which we experience a work. A difficult novel may be more accessible (or vice versa). Technical jargon may be different. There may be subtleties that are missed or different in translation. In some places (like Japan), translators are well respected and regarded as talented artists in their own right.

The balance of translators can also be a challenge. In the EU, there may be many people in a poorer country that eager to work as translators. However, there is greater need for translators from the wealthier countries, but they have many other job opportunities.

This book provides an eye opening voyage into the field of translation. English speakers often don't pay much attention to translations. The bad translations that we sometimes see in cheaply translated instruction manuals are perhaps the only time we notice that there is some skill needed for good translation.