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In Praise of Translators

Quando i lettori hanno più buon senso dei redattori.
Interessante la lettera di una lettrice pubblicata ieri dalla Sunday Book Review del New York Times. Non ho il tempo di tradurla, mi limito perciò a citarla integralmente:

Published: May 20, 2007

To the Editor:

I was initially very pleased to see that you devoted an issue of the Book Review (April 15) to literature in translation. Many of the books sound wonderful. Most of the reviewers’ ability to discuss work in translation, however, seemed fairly limited.

Consider James Wood’s review of “The Savage Detectives,” by Roberto Bolaño, in which he also discusses Bolaño’s novella “By Night in Chile.” Wood describes the style of a long sentence whose “musical control is impeccable.” A comment like this must be attached to the translator, perhaps even more than the original writer, for the music in English is the work of Chris Andrews, who undoubtedly spent hours interpreting, phrasing and revising that sentence. If the entire novella manages, as Wood suggests, to be a “poem,” then a great deal of credit belongs to Andrews, who had to rewrite, to re-envision the original and make the music of Spanish into another sort of music — English music.

Essentially, Andrews had to work as both interpreter and artist, creating what Bolaño would have written were English his first language. A reviewer who doesn’t look at the original language and the translation really shouldn’t comment on style at all.

Most of your reviews, if they did comment on the translation, did so in a perfunctory way. I’d suggest that you find reviewers who are able to assess work in translation as it should be considered: as the work of two artists, not one.

Liz Harris Behling

Grand Forks, N.D.

The writer is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.

Postato da: prablog a 09:55 | link | commenti (6) |
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Commenti

#1   21 Maggio 2007 - 11:39

 

Sante parole!

bichi

#2   28 Maggio 2007 - 15:47

 

Thank you to whom ever for posting my letter. I'm actually a translator of Italian fiction.

Cordialmente,

Liz Harris Behling

utente anonimo

#3   29 Maggio 2007 - 15:14

 

Thank you to you, Liz! Only a fellow translator can fully understand the hard work behind the "musical control" of a sentence...
Grazie per le tue parole,
Laura

prablog

#4   30 Maggio 2007 - 23:37

 

I wonder if you could let me know of any Italian organizations or conferences for literary translation from English to Italian. I would love to learn what is happening in Italy in terms of translation. Send me an email? eidaharris@yahoo.com.

Liz Harris Behling

utente anonimo

#5   01 Giugno 2007 - 16:00

 

Liz, I mailed you a couple of times: first one bounced, hope you finally got it

utente anonimo

#6   14 Giugno 2007 - 01:38

 

una traduzione in italiano dell'articolo di Liz Harris Behling si trova qui: http://reginazabo.noblogs.org/post/2007/06/14/la-posta-dei-lettori

utente anonimo

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