Lost in Translation
Today’s book radio show on The Point with Mindy Todd was all about books that have been translated, primarily translated into English, as well as the challenges for translators of translating one language into another language. Joining Jill Erickson and Mindy was author Peter Abrahams. Below you will find a list of books mentioned, and if you missed the show you can listen online anytime!
Peter’s Picks
The Trial by Franz Kafka, translated from the German by Willa and Edwin Muir
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky, translated from the Russian by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, translated from the Spanish by Edith Grossman
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, translated the French by Jacques Le Clercq
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, translated from the Russian by H. T. Willetts
The Original Folk & Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: the complete first edition, translated from the German by Jack Zipes
Holy Bible, the King James Version
Jill’s Picks
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, translated from the French originally by Katherine Woods and in 2000 translated by Richard Howard
Is That a Fish in Your Ear: translation and the meaning of everything by David Bellos
Collected Poems by C. P. Cavafy, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn in 2009 and by Edmund Kellery & Philip Sherrard in 1975.
December Heat By Luiz Alfredo Garcia-Roza, translated from the Portuguese by Benjamin Moser. Part of the Inspector Espinosa series.
In Translation: translators on their work and what it means, edited by Esther Allen and Susan Bernofsky
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust, translated from the French by Lydia Davis
Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector, translated from Portuguese by Alison Entrekin. Also try The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector, translated by Katrina Dodson and Why This World: a biography of Clarice Lispector by Benjamin Moser. That’s the cover from Lispector’s complete stories that illustrates this blog.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett or Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky or Rosamund Bartlett or Marian Schwartz. Article about the Anna Karenina translations can be found in The New York Times, written by Masha Gessen.
Bonus book, for which there was no time, but is well worth reading if you are interested in a short book on translation. Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman. (Includes a list of the author’s picks of important translations.)