On Friday, the Prize Committee for the 2017 Man Booker International Prize announced their shortlist, having whittled down their long list to six shining examples of greatness in international (that is, non English-speaking) fiction, and the best in translation work.
And it’s this aspect of the award that I personally find fascinating. There are brilliant, creative, and insightful human beings around the planet, and they create art in any number of mediums, forms, and in as many languages as have been created thus far. But to translate their work is another art form in and of itself.
As Rick Kleffel noted in his fabulous think-piece on this topic, titled The Art of Translation, word choice is only the beginning when it comes to translation work. It’s fairly easy, generally speaking, to transpose a word in a foreign language to English. But a translator also has to think about the sound of words, especially when translating lyric works like poetry. Local and cultural connotations are significant, as well–there are any number of regional dialects that a translator has to parse in order to provide an effective and meaningful translation; think about how we in Massachusetts understand “wicked” to mean “very”. Now think about the actual meaning of the word “wicked” (evil or morally wrong). These are issues that a translator must not only understand, but be able to handle.
Time periods matter, too. Kleffel notes a particularly colorful instance related to him by Burton Raffle, a professional translator who was hired to translate a 16th century novel from Middle French into modern English:
Written in the 16th century, the novel was set in a time of filth and squalor. Raffel found he had to overcome the limits of the English language.
“Rabelais, the author of this very strange book, ends the chapter with a sputtering iteration. I believe it’s something like 43 different words in French for s- – -,” says Raffel. “My problem was finding 43 different words because English is not so plentiful in these things.
So, on that note, let’s tip our hats today, not only to these phenomenal authors, but to their incredibly talented translators, as well!
And just a reminder, the international prize comes with a cash award of £50,000, or about $64,000, which authors split with their translators.
And the nominees are…
Compass by French author Mathias Énard. As night falls over Vienna, Franz Ritter, an insomniac musicologist, takes to his sickbed with an unspecified illness and spends a restless night drifting between dreams and memories, revisiting the important chapters of his life, as well as the various writers, artists, musicians, academics, orientalists, and explorers who populate this vast dreamscape, including the love whose loss has defined his life (translated by Charlotte Mandell).
A Horse Walks Into a Bar by Israeli author David Grossman: In a little dive in a small Israeli city, Dov Greenstein, a comedian a bit past his prime, is doing a night of stand-up. Gradually, as it teeters between hilarity and hysteria, Dov’s patter becomes a kind of memoir, taking us back into the terrors of his childhood, from his traumatized and violent parents to his week at a military camp for youth, while his audience is forced to wrestle with their part in his increasingly harrowing tale (translated by Jessica Cohen).
The Unseen about a family living on a small Scandinavian fishing island. Sadly, there has been no US release announced (yet) for this book (translated by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw).
Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Danish author Dorthe Nors. Sonja’s over forty, and she’s trying to move in the right direction. She’s learning to drive. She’s joined a meditation group. And she’s attempting to reconnect with her sister. But Sonja would rather eat cake than meditate. Her driving instructor won’t let her change gear. And her sister won’t return her calls. Sonja’s mind keeps wandering back to the dramatic landscapes of her childhood, but can she learn to find her way in the present? (translated by Misha Hoekstra).
Judas, by Israeli author Amos Oz. Jerusalem, 1959. Shmuel Ash, a biblical scholar, is adrift in his young life when he finds work as a caregiver for a brilliant but cantankerous old man named Gershom Wald. There is, however, a third, mysterious presence in his new home. Atalia Abarbanel, the daughter of a deceased Zionist leader, a beautiful woman in her forties, entrances young Shmuel even as she keeps him at a distance. Piece by piece, the old Jerusalem stone house, haunted by tragic history and now home to the three misfits and their intricate relationship, reveals its secrets. (translated by Nicholas de Lange).