Edith Grossman
I met a man once who told me, with great earnestness, that books were translated by machines.
“Uh-huh…”
It’s hard, sometimes, to tell with my French acquaintances whether they’re pulling my leg or not. The best thing is to play along, play for time and draw them out a bit. Thing is, saying inflammatory things that you don’t believe is a conversation technique here. Once you hang out with a person more and get to know them you can tell better. They usually are pulling your leg; but then every once in a while, they’re not. And that’s usually the time when you give a big cackling laugh. I’ve developed some wonderful recovery techniques for this sort of social whoopsie.
But back to the beginning. “Books are translated by machines.” I think translators are some of the most undervalued people on the planet. They’re more invisible than the factory workers who helped make your pencil.
It’s been getting a bit better lately, though. And to further the cause of translator awareness, I bring you a link to a nice article on Edith Grossman. She’s most probably most famous for translating Garcia Marquez’s Love in the Time of Cholera (which if I’m not mistaken, was recently turned into a movie. No idea how successfully.) Also, she not too long ago did a new version of Don Quixote that I still need to get my hands on. Plus oodles of others. I won’t list them, the article does a good job of that.
The sentence structure’s a bit dangley, but as far as content goes the article certainly has a book lover’s opening:
When you walk into the center of Edith Grossman’s foyer, you’re not sure which of the six white-walled rooms of this classic high-ceilinged Upper West Side ground-floor apartment, with their ubiquitous wooden bookshelves, tall and short, to rake your eyes over first.
[go to article…]
I love the bit where Garcia Marquez sends her a letter:
“I knew this Colombian writer was eccentric when he wrote me saying that he doesn’t use adverbs ending with -mente in Spanish and would like to avoid adverbs ending in -ly in English.”
Seems completely reasonable to me. How few writers take such care with the rhythm and flow of their words!
Here’s the jazz radio station Ms Grossman mentions.
Book’s are translated by machines, indeed! I never could figure out if he was serious or not.
Tags: bookshelf snooping, Garcia Marquez, New York radio stations, online radio, Spanish language, translator, writing style