Archive for the ‘Translation’ Category
Translation, cont.
[I posted a comment to Conversational Reading that was a blog entry's worth of ideas, so I'm auto-plagiarizing myself here.]
Translations are as much works of art as the originals, so arguing the merits of one translation over another (as long as they are competently done) is like ranking books – it may be fun, but it’s a matter of taste, not science. Also, it’s cheating to read the original in order to evaluate the translation, since translations are meant for people who can’t read the original. What use would a review be of a translation that analyzes the correspondence to the original? None to someone who can’t evaluate the evaluation. It’s a disservice. Read translations as though they were written in English (which they are, after all). You’ll be doing translators a favor.
(As a side note – who knows why Pevear/Volokhonsky translations sell so well. Is it marketing and pretty cover designs? I’ve read a couple of their efforts, and unfortunately for me, I speak Russian, so I can see the Russian bumps under their English phrasings – it’s too literal. However, to someone who doesn’t speak Russian, those literalisms might sound like a fresh, innovative voice. I can’t tell, but, given this clumsy literalism, reviews that gush about Pevear/Volokhonsy “finally bringing the English reader closer to the original Russian” etc., do sound like unintended irony.)
As for why so few English-language novelists translate, I think it’s partly a result of American cultural dominance. We (and our special cousins) are culturally dominant (thanks to our muy macho economy), so people read us, not vice-versa. Translating everything Danielle Steel has written is a no-brainer for a foreign publisher, just as showing Hollywood movies is a no-brainer for foreign distributors. It’s what sells.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not arguing that this is good. It’s not. But it is inevitable. We can console ourselves that with the US’s failing fortunes (loss in Iraq, falling dollar), the cultural center will shift to a periphery, and we’ll be exposed to more cultural influence from abroad – not just books, but movies, music, etc., too. This is already starting in a very small way – for US teenagers, anime and manga are cool in a way that Superman will never again be for that age group.
