I was wondering if any one would like to join a read along of Don Quixote the new Edith Grossman translation .It is one of those books you think you should have read like my self but haven’t got round to it ,This may be your chance ,this new translation has freshened the text and has gained praise from both Harold Bloom and Carlos Fuentes .the book is published in the U.K by Vintage Classic and in the U.S.A by Harper Perennial ,both editions appear to be the same length at 992 pages ,if there is interest i ll work out a timetable and plan to start late summer .
The original is unfaithful to the translation -Jorge Luis Borges
I recently heard an interview with american translator Edith Grossman who is called the Glenn Gold of translation ,this is an apt interpretation of the art of translation ,like a pianist they have to interpret a composer’s music their own way .the art of translation is the same as the translator has to capture the spirit of the original piece in their own language .I want to highlight a few translators who work I have admired in the last few months –
Anthea Bell
Anthea Bell –
Anthea bell translates both adult and children’s fiction ,she works on pieces in french ,German and Danish ,she has work notably on wonderfully poetic translation of my beloved Sebald and on Pushkin’s press new translations of Stefan Zweig .she has also won a number of prizes for her translations including independent foreign translation prize for Sebald’s Austerlitz .
Micheal Henry Heim –
Michael Heim is professor of slavic language at U.C.L.A ,he translates works from Russian ,Czech,Serbo-Croatian and Dutch .My first book of the year was his wonderful translation of Hugo Claus wonder from the Dutch to English ,where i felt he really caught Claus vision of a man falling apart so well in translation,this book was shortlist for this years three percent award for translation .
Margaret jill Costa-
Margaret Costa is one of the main translators alongside Edith Grossman of Spanish Literature and also portuguese as well as basque .I have enjoy her work on Saramago’s and Atxaga books in the last year ,she has won numerous awards and is the only translator to have won both open to all translation prizes in U.K and U.S.A ,the pen award and Oxford Weidenfield award .She has been working with Dedalus books on a number of short books in recent years .
Edith Grossman
Edith Grossman –
Edith Grossman is the most respected translator of latin american fiction she works on Marquez ,Fuentes and Vargas Llosa works ,she also complete a totally new translation of Cervantes Don Quixote which was well received even gaining praise from Harold Bloom .She has published her own book why translation matters about the art of translation ,which an interview with her ,i heard had inspired this post .I have loved her translations of Marquez and am wanting to read the Don Quixote she has done .
Don Quixote
So next time you read and review a book please acknowledge the translator I will be doing in future !
