This evening we went to the presentation of the
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize at Tate Britain. The winner was
"The Armies" by Colombian author Evilio Rosero, translated by Anne McLean, who explained that British publishers often have to take a punt on a novel in a foreign language before they've actually read it. This had never occured to me before but is bleeding obvious when you think about it. Hospitality was provided by
Champagne Taittinger of which I can't speak highly enough.
Anyone interested in this area can't go far wrong with Umberto Eco's "Experiences in Translation". It is what you would expect from a semiotician (dense) but brilliant. Translation is often referred to as 'betrayal' - and this book makes a sound case to both support and destroy that notion. Yes, but no.
ReplyDelete