When I was young I had an addiction to books, movies, television, and music. They were all I thought about. Much of that was probably because I lived in a small town with little more than a Wal-Mart and the world’s tallest Abraham Lincoln statue. A book, for example, allowed me to explore the world and the interior lives of others even if I was limited geographically. This is true of many curious people, I’m sure. But I’ve been in awe to think back to books that have been translated into English. The first I was probably familiar with was the Bible. Isn’t it amazing that between two covers you travel not only geographically to the middle east but also through time?
The last novel I finished was The Loser by Thomas Bernhard as translated by Jack Dawson. I don’t speak German so this book would have been forever unknown to me had Dawson not put it into English. I have on the table in front of me tales from Russia by Isaac Babel, a novel of a medieval German monastery by Hermann Hesse, Eileen Chang’s Chinese parlor tales from Shanghai, the French mystery novel that Hitchcock’s Vertigo was based on, and Gert Hofmann’s amazing bedside novel about Georg Lichtenberg which was brought from German into English by Gert’s son Michael. These alone make me highly value the work of translators, but this stack hardly scratches the surface of all the translated books I have ever loved. What would a world without Kierkegaard and Sei Shonagon be like?
Just like a world without pasta puttanesca or radishes with butter and salt.
That’s why I’m tickled pink that my friend Yew Leong Lee has founded a journal dedicated to publishing literary translations and focusing our attention on the exchange that happens when a work is translated. It’s called Asymptote (it’s online home is http://www.asymptotejournal.com). I’m even more bowled over to say that I’m one of Asymptote’s associate editors and have been able to participate in soliciting work and promoting such a great venture. Our first issue is out in January 2011 and it has great promise. Check out the preview page that’s up if you’d like and feel free to spread the word since we’re currently seeking submissions of translated poems, prose, drama, and essays.
