this is the best writing I have yet seen oern the publishing industry of the United State's long and utterly jingoistic approach to the literatures of the world reducing millions of people's choice to a long history of white writers, women and men, some brilliant such as Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy,, Ernest Hebert, Muriel Rukeyser, and leaving out such wondrous and thunderous giants as Mahmoud Darwish, Pablo Neruda, Elsa Morante, Isabel Allende, Arundahti Roy, and so many others, depriving US reader of oceans of insight and beauty. But this is what happens in a capitalist society that mistakes greed for gifts and gluttony for glory and gives major awards to the garrulous , the puny, and the human receptacles of potential endless natural gas, but one will not understand the world and all our global neighbors without reading such amazing works such as Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev about resilience in the maw of mass terror, or Jorge Amado's astonishingly delightful The Tent of Miracles with an entirely new approach to education, or Oran Pamuk's stupendous lovemystery My Name Is Red, or Ousmane Sembene's epic tale of Senegalese railroad workers on a national strike on a drive against French Imperialism. Or how about the meteoric suurealism of the poetry of Vi Khi Nao, Linh Dinh, and Mai Der Vang run down walk to get these comets but get pants with big pockets so you can the poems of Doug Kearneye, Patricia Smth and Tyehimba Jess and others from Cave Canem and Kundian, an Asian American group. or SPIN THEGLOBE AND FIND A DEEPER PART Of GORGEOUS ADVENTURe
That's great to hear, Lev! I am curious: did you set an official goal? For example, saying to yourself "of the 10 books I review this year, I will make sure three of them are works in translation"?
I am. I'm currently working on the poetry of Humberto Ak'abal. I did a verse version of the Popol Vuh for Milkweed Editions, published in 2018. https://milkweed.org/book/the-popol-vuh
Ann Morgan's book on the challenges of meeting her goal of reading a book from every corner of the globe is a book worth reading. In America Morgan's book is given the title "The World Between Two Covers". She continues to maintain and add new books the blog she started to celebrate her round-the-world reading: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com
Well done! When I was pitching Mónica Lavín's Sor Juana novel, I heard exactly what you mention here: no one knows who she is. Your "translators get no respect" discussion is pertinent and still of the moment, I'm afraid. In the introductory class on translation I teach—grad school creative writing—many come in thinking the equivalent of, "but you just get Google to translate it, right?"
I know. Indeed, I was thinking of you and ML as I penned that example. I just think that so much of publishers' resistance is just, as Christina suggests, based on a lack of understanding. It's up to us to teach!
Well said. 'When readers don’t have a chance to draw parallels between their own needs, dreams, and realities and those of people elsewhere, they are blinded to ways of seeing that are distinct from their own.' This captures in a nutshell the monoculture that dominates US publishing, where the willfully blind choose what we see.
Great questions and exposure in general. Much for me to digest, ruminate upon, understand, and, hopefully – as a literary translator since the 1970s – to act upon. Here's a backgrounder I wrote in 2008 adding some historical continuity to the conversation
Wonderful and persuasive! Perhaps anything translated is perceived as "literary," which while high praise for some is the kiss of death for publishers.
Thank you, Catherine! Your point is well taken and I suspect that in "trade" publishing, the prejudice against the literary is particularly strong. The tell-all memoir, the how-to, and genre fiction are the darlings of big publishers now, unless the name is already big (Ferrante, Padura, Vargas Llosa, Allende, García Márquez, etc.) This begs the question, how can the indies, who are more open to literary fiction in translation and generally more ethical in their treatment of translators, achieve better distribution deals? More would be more for everyone!
I notice this lack of interest in crediting translators with some of the books I own. In The Collected Short Stories of Satyajit Ray, originally in Bengali, the publisher, The Penguin Ray Library, only mentions the translator, Gopa Majumdar, on the reverse of the title page, not on the cover.
Gabriel García Márquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera, published by Alfred A. Knopf, credits Edith Grossman on the inside title page but not on the front cover.
It’s only with factual books such as Bushido: The Way of the Samurai based on the Hagakure by Tsunetomo Yamamoto that a publisher like Square One Classics mentions translator Minoru Tanaka on the front cover. Literary works don’t seem to merit the same treatment.
This seems to not only indicate a preference for ‘in’ topics at the expense of literary works but also suggests an inclination towards pragmatic versus creative writing, indicative of US culture.
Apr 20, 2023·edited Apr 20, 2023Liked by D. P. Snyder
3% is a shocking number - I had no idea it was that low. The fact that we don't have access to so many stories that aren't anglo keeps us small and narrow and blind.
this is the best writing I have yet seen oern the publishing industry of the United State's long and utterly jingoistic approach to the literatures of the world reducing millions of people's choice to a long history of white writers, women and men, some brilliant such as Virginia Woolf, Thomas Hardy,, Ernest Hebert, Muriel Rukeyser, and leaving out such wondrous and thunderous giants as Mahmoud Darwish, Pablo Neruda, Elsa Morante, Isabel Allende, Arundahti Roy, and so many others, depriving US reader of oceans of insight and beauty. But this is what happens in a capitalist society that mistakes greed for gifts and gluttony for glory and gives major awards to the garrulous , the puny, and the human receptacles of potential endless natural gas, but one will not understand the world and all our global neighbors without reading such amazing works such as Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev about resilience in the maw of mass terror, or Jorge Amado's astonishingly delightful The Tent of Miracles with an entirely new approach to education, or Oran Pamuk's stupendous lovemystery My Name Is Red, or Ousmane Sembene's epic tale of Senegalese railroad workers on a national strike on a drive against French Imperialism. Or how about the meteoric suurealism of the poetry of Vi Khi Nao, Linh Dinh, and Mai Der Vang run down walk to get these comets but get pants with big pockets so you can the poems of Doug Kearneye, Patricia Smth and Tyehimba Jess and others from Cave Canem and Kundian, an Asian American group. or SPIN THEGLOBE AND FIND A DEEPER PART Of GORGEOUS ADVENTURe
Thank you, Ernie.
When I reviewed crime fiction for the Detroit Free Press, I tried my best to include translated crime fiction to broaden possibilities for my readers.
That's great to hear, Lev! I am curious: did you set an official goal? For example, saying to yourself "of the 10 books I review this year, I will make sure three of them are works in translation"?
This is fantastic. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for reading, MIchael. ¿Are you a literary translator?
I am. I'm currently working on the poetry of Humberto Ak'abal. I did a verse version of the Popol Vuh for Milkweed Editions, published in 2018. https://milkweed.org/book/the-popol-vuh
I am so glad we have met! Congratulations on your work.
Ann Morgan's book on the challenges of meeting her goal of reading a book from every corner of the globe is a book worth reading. In America Morgan's book is given the title "The World Between Two Covers". She continues to maintain and add new books the blog she started to celebrate her round-the-world reading: https://ayearofreadingtheworld.com
How wonderful! Thank you, Glenn.
Well done! When I was pitching Mónica Lavín's Sor Juana novel, I heard exactly what you mention here: no one knows who she is. Your "translators get no respect" discussion is pertinent and still of the moment, I'm afraid. In the introductory class on translation I teach—grad school creative writing—many come in thinking the equivalent of, "but you just get Google to translate it, right?"
I know. Indeed, I was thinking of you and ML as I penned that example. I just think that so much of publishers' resistance is just, as Christina suggests, based on a lack of understanding. It's up to us to teach!
Well said. 'When readers don’t have a chance to draw parallels between their own needs, dreams, and realities and those of people elsewhere, they are blinded to ways of seeing that are distinct from their own.' This captures in a nutshell the monoculture that dominates US publishing, where the willfully blind choose what we see.
I am so glad this struck a chord with you, Doug. It is the part of the issue that hurts all of us the most. Thank you for your attentive reading.
Great questions and exposure in general. Much for me to digest, ruminate upon, understand, and, hopefully – as a literary translator since the 1970s – to act upon. Here's a backgrounder I wrote in 2008 adding some historical continuity to the conversation
https://www.pastemagazine.com/article/lost-and-found
Thank you for your comment. Yes! Action is key!
Wonderful and persuasive! Perhaps anything translated is perceived as "literary," which while high praise for some is the kiss of death for publishers.
Thank you, Catherine! Your point is well taken and I suspect that in "trade" publishing, the prejudice against the literary is particularly strong. The tell-all memoir, the how-to, and genre fiction are the darlings of big publishers now, unless the name is already big (Ferrante, Padura, Vargas Llosa, Allende, García Márquez, etc.) This begs the question, how can the indies, who are more open to literary fiction in translation and generally more ethical in their treatment of translators, achieve better distribution deals? More would be more for everyone!
I notice this lack of interest in crediting translators with some of the books I own. In The Collected Short Stories of Satyajit Ray, originally in Bengali, the publisher, The Penguin Ray Library, only mentions the translator, Gopa Majumdar, on the reverse of the title page, not on the cover.
Gabriel García Márquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera, published by Alfred A. Knopf, credits Edith Grossman on the inside title page but not on the front cover.
It’s only with factual books such as Bushido: The Way of the Samurai based on the Hagakure by Tsunetomo Yamamoto that a publisher like Square One Classics mentions translator Minoru Tanaka on the front cover. Literary works don’t seem to merit the same treatment.
This seems to not only indicate a preference for ‘in’ topics at the expense of literary works but also suggests an inclination towards pragmatic versus creative writing, indicative of US culture.
3% is a shocking number - I had no idea it was that low. The fact that we don't have access to so many stories that aren't anglo keeps us small and narrow and blind.
Very thorough and thoughtful assessment. I'm just discovering some of the magazines you mentioned.
I am so glad! Thank you for your comment.