tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post6914604841985770867..comments2023-10-21T07:44:20.549-04:00Comments on The Existence Machine: Translation revisitedRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08014014605639738887noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-27603515895342123472011-06-28T15:09:33.508-04:002011-06-28T15:09:33.508-04:00that's all right, occasionally we forgive a le...that's all right, occasionally we forgive a lefty being a bit gauche! if i haven't mentioned it, the site<br />http://www.handketrans.scriptmania.com/<br />has some fine pieces on translating handke, not just by yours truly, but also by handke who, after all, or the after the very many, has translated from the ancient greek, french, american, shakespeare [a winter's tale], slovenian..SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-49315844216488536212011-06-28T14:56:43.416-04:002011-06-28T14:56:43.416-04:00for the sake of clarity, I should point out that t...for the sake of clarity, I should point out that the Richard above is not me (blog proprietor), but Richard Estes of American LeftistRichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08014014605639738887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-2357521493225895622011-06-28T14:39:38.036-04:002011-06-28T14:39:38.036-04:00the most accessible example of a translation throu...the most accessible example of a translation through several thousand years is the bible of course, which proves that if inspired by belief, if touched by a text translators, sometimes groups of them, can do marvelous work that enrich a language. most accessible to me, the king james bible and luther's translation which changed the language forever, i have had the fortune, and a very taxing one it was in its two instances, of translating two texts that pretty much hollowed me out: 65 poems in nelly sachs' OH THE CHIMNEYS & Handke's WALK ABOUT THE VILLAGES. The original has all of Handke, and the translation left me a husk; and Handke actually understood what had transpired. but then its publication became an albatross!SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-30741354654642126352011-06-28T12:46:12.067-04:002011-06-28T12:46:12.067-04:00the interjection of the translator into literature...the interjection of the translator into literature creates something new, something markedly different from the work in its original language<br /><br />there's nothing wrong with that, but we should acknowledge it, and I suspect many contemporary authors have acted with this knowledge when dealing with those assigned to translate their writingsRichardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09164564889343805575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-88714622849784641432011-06-13T11:57:05.244-04:002011-06-13T11:57:05.244-04:00indeed, handke especially creates experiences - on...indeed, handke especially creates experiences - once you have a drift how a composer goes about his business you can also criticize him, within his terms, if terms he has. longer works such as YEAR IN THE NOMAN'S BAY & DEL GREDOS have matters that can be criticized, and DEL GREDOS has the odd dead skin at moment, when Handke was just a pro - he writes the pro's 1000 words a day to stay well, but ...SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-81575428857121613702011-06-12T17:42:03.698-04:002011-06-12T17:42:03.698-04:00To the extent my use of the words" "know...To the extent my use of the words" "know fully" suggests something like "understand," it's an unfortunate usage. Of course we'll never fully understand any work of literature. Ulitmately, understanding it isn't the point. I don't advocate "treating art as a set of objects to be assessed and judged." I advocate treating it as something to be experienced. I can't come as close to fully experiencing a literary work in a language I don't have as I can one in a language I do have. This is why I consider translation, for me, "tragic."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-60385532270391246742011-06-11T13:25:36.412-04:002011-06-11T13:25:36.412-04:00American editors of translations - who have not a ...American editors of translations - who have not a second language, the bane of my existence at Farrar, Straus. The insistence invariably was that all sense of its foreignness be extirpated, ya know, the way our tongue happens to be wagging in New York that day!SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-51322966812907006222011-06-11T10:38:59.614-04:002011-06-11T10:38:59.614-04:00Your sense of what a translator is up to matches m...Your sense of what a translator is up to matches my own. As I worked out an English-language version of Peter Handke's A Journey to the Rivers, my aim was always to find semi-equivalent rhythms and textures, to bring Handke's fine prose into my native language, to expand English a bit, perhaps, with Handke's sentences (this last idea from Walter Benjamin's fine essay on The Task of the Translator). When the editor from Viking told me I shouldn't begin so many sentences with the word "And" I pointed out that Handke shouldn't do that in German either.Scott Abbotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01782322856303315648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-9089460220745944742011-06-11T10:19:54.691-04:002011-06-11T10:19:54.691-04:00Richard, you may like Eliot Weinberger's very ...Richard, you may like Eliot Weinberger's very intelligent and practical essay on translation:<br />http://www.fascicle.com/issue01/Poets/weinberger1.htmakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15385267278249934192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-81817542742554518192011-06-11T10:09:13.053-04:002011-06-11T10:09:13.053-04:00I saw that at BDR's and had a quick "huh?...I saw that at BDR's and had a quick "huh?" reaction. Nicely done here, Richard.<br /><br />The Daniel Green quote also confuses me because he seems to be saying that works in translation are getting too much attention in part because they don't get enough attention, which maybe if I knew more about the lit-world would make more sense?<br /><br />Your last paragraph is fantastic.Ethanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07498712279382078624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-84200587211019292302011-06-11T10:00:56.412-04:002011-06-11T10:00:56.412-04:00Let me cut to the chase and take the beagle by its...Let me cut to the chase and take the beagle by its ears. Handke, a very great translator himself - Euripedes, Sophocles, Shakespeare, Patrick Modiani, Bove, Walker Percy, from the Slovenian {Lipius,etc.] etc - once stated "A good writer takes his translator by the elbows." As a translator myself, I must say that that is the case, not only that: when Handke is playful he inspires m own playfulness, permits it. Mannheim does fine work but at the opening of A SLOW HOMECOMING where he fails as the MEDIUM for its rhythms. Moreover, having lived in Europe since the late 40s, Mannheim entirely lost touch with the common day tongue. I will cut the chase short, but iI run a translation site devoted to Handke and transation which has some fine pieces by Fabjian Haffner and Elisabeth Schwagerle on the subject of Handke as translator.<br />http://www.handketrans.scriptmanania.com/SUMMA POLITICOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11214697505465094305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23471801.post-70062900494521777832011-06-10T15:59:46.680-04:002011-06-10T15:59:46.680-04:00Thanks for the Kind. I was hoping it would nudge s...Thanks for the Kind. I was hoping it would nudge somebody; glad it was you. I will be delighted to forward this to the professor and if I get a response I'll get it to you in one medium or another.<br /><br />I have no problems reading novels in translation - the best reading experience of the past year for me is Littell's The Kindly Ones, translated from the French. (I confess I get squishy when it comes to poetry, though I also confess that smacks of snobbery.)BDRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06557941385560728052noreply@blogger.com