My Addendum to Translation Trouble

Much has been said about the lack of translation in US publishing on Johannes's blog. I don't think he is scolding the American readership for not being more interested in foreign-language poetry, advocating for a better readership. It's rather a lack of effort from the majority of US publishers.

Michael Palmer and Norma Cole mentioned something very similar today at a talk about the art of Martin Puryear. Michael Palmer has translated Emmanuel Hocquard, among other French poets, Brazilian and Russian poetries. Norma Cole has translated Danielle Collobert, Anne Portugal and other French poets.

Palmer mentioned about translation the looting of the Iraqi National Museum and the theft and destruction of several ancient jars. To the outcry of art critics and curators, Donald Rumsfeld replied that those jars were just jars, not "repositories of cultures and languages not our own." In short, it is not so much that people should read more translations, but that by not putting out more, what is at stake is "what we allow to speak." As such, Palmer sees the act of translation as an ethical act, a way of "opening the horizon of language and thought" in a way that would not be possible in an insular language.

Comments

Sasha said…
a lot is said of English: that it includes words and phrases from lots of other languages, and is therefor less insular. England, being an island inhabited/dominated several times over, could be seen historically as a linguistic isthmus between Latin and German.

Or, is English becoming an Arctic preserve of a culture long since past its use-value, but forbidden the right to rot and decay with dignity? A place long since frozen over, but kept relevant for its novelty. Perhaps it is less an isthmus and more an ice bridge to a future of uncertain promise; a future only translation can unfold.

Popular Posts