{"id":2516,"date":"2014-03-20T09:30:42","date_gmt":"2014-03-20T01:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2516"},"modified":"2014-03-11T10:02:16","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T02:02:16","slug":"in-other-words-a-discussion-about-translation-and-translators-at-asian-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2516","title":{"rendered":"In Other Words: a discussion about translation and translators at Asian Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Julia Lovell, Sophie Lewis, Arunava Sinha, Marcia Lynx Qualey and I took part in a discussion at Asian Review of Books on the nature of translation and the role of translators in bringing Asian literature to the English-speaking world. Here is an excerpt from the conversation:<\/p>\n

Peter Gordon, editor:\u00a0A work in translation is, obviously, not the same as a work in the original language. But what is it exactly that readers are actually reading when they read a translation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lucas Klein:\u00a0First, what a translation is\u00a0not: a genetic clone of some original. Many\u00a0criticisms of translation\u2014such as that translation is \u201cimpossible\u201d\u2014are based on impossibly narrow definitions of translation.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Peter Gordon, editor:\u00a0When setting up the Man Asian Literary Prize, I included an additional award for the translator (if there was one) of the winning novel. This was not just a matter of acknowledging the translators\u2019 contribution: the Prize was initially for as yet unpublished works, and I figured if anyone would know what interesting works were in the pipeline, it would be translators … Where do translators and translations fit in this \u201ceco-system\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lucas Klein: The role of translators in that ecosystem can seem both very large and very small. If Faulkner was influenced by the Bible and the great nineteenth century Russian novelists, say, and in turn influenced Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez and Mo Yan, then not only was Faulkner influenced by the King James translators, but also by Constance Garnett, who translated Tolstoy and Dostoevsky in the early twentieth century, as Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez and Mo Yan are influenced by the translators of Faulkner into Spanish and Chinese, while Howard Goldblatt is in turn influenced not only by Faulkner but by Gregory Rabassa and Edith Grossman\u2014Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez\u2019s main translators into English\u2014in the formation of the literary style he has used to represent and recreate Mo Yan\u2019s voice in English.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Click the image above for the full discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julia Lovell, Sophie Lewis, Arunava Sinha, Marcia Lynx Qualey and I took part in a discussion at Asian Review of Books on the nature of translation and the role of translators in bringing Asian literature to the English-speaking world. Here … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,16],"tags":[1367,1371,1373,1372,585,1341,19,382,872,462,1368,189,1369,1366,1370],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8srwF-EA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4788,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4788","url_meta":{"origin":2516,"position":0},"title":"Translating Asian Languages: Prejudices and Privileges — International Zoom Meeting","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"April 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Translating Asian Languages: Prejudices & Privileges TRANSLATING ASIAN LANGUAGES: PREJUDICES & PRIVILEGESDate: Wednesday 15 April 2020Time: 8:00-9:30 p.m. (GMT+8)Platform: ZOOM (Meeting ID: 514 122 177)Languages: EnglishSpeakers: Lucas Klein, Grace Ting, and Matt TurnerModerator: Tammy Lai-Ming Ho 'Every translation sparks \/ another translation.' In the discussion \"Translating Asian Languages: Prejudices and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xichuanpoetry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=749","url_meta":{"origin":2516,"position":1},"title":"Paul Mason’s top 10 books about China","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"February 25, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"English novelist and Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason has compiled a top-ten list of books on China he found helpful for his novel Rare Earth (here's a review of the novel by scholar-translator Julia Lovell), comprising five works of fiction in translation (including Lu Xun \u9b6f\u8fc5, Mo Yan \u83ab\u8a00, Gao\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mine in north-west China","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.guim.co.uk\/sys-images\/Admin\/BkFill\/Default_image_group\/2012\/1\/31\/1328030928136\/Mine-in-north-west-China-007.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1742,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1742","url_meta":{"origin":2516,"position":2},"title":"Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"March 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) invites publishers and translators to nominate book-length translations into English of Asian poetry or source texts from (but not commentaries on) Zen Buddhism. Languages eligible are Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. The winning translator will be announced in the fall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1119,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=1119","url_meta":{"origin":2516,"position":3},"title":"Publishing Chinese Authors in the UK","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"August 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/youtu.be\/n1KD0OUEUBE from the Literary Translation Centre at the London Book Fair in April Chair Ellah Allfrey, Granta Speakers Marysia Juszczakiewicz, Peony Literary Agency Julia Lovell, Birkbeck College, University of London Ra Page, Comma Press","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/n1KD0OUEUBE\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2051,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=2051","url_meta":{"origin":2516,"position":4},"title":"East-Asian Translation Studies conference CFP","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"July 3, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"East-Asian Translation Studies conference Thursday 19 - Friday\u00a020 June 2014 Call for Papers We invite papers on the following topics and beyond: East Asian traditions of literary translation; East Asian traditions of translation; historical approaches to translation; Translation Theory\/Discourse, and the concept of Theory\u00a0in the East Asian context; Translation and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4654,"url":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?p=4654","url_meta":{"origin":2516,"position":5},"title":"The 2019 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize Shortlist","author":"Lucas Klein","date":"September 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"October Dedications, shortlisted for the 2019 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize October Dedications, the selected poetry of Mang Ke \u8292\u514b (Zephyr Press), translated from the Chinese by Lucas Klein with Jonathan Stalling and Huang Yibing, has been shortlisted for the 2019 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, administered by the American\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Links"","block_context":{"text":"Links","link":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"https:\/\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/7a2274_49fac7dde9d94d07a5c5bb2d41126342~mv2_d_1791_2394_s_2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_749,h_998,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01\/7a2274_49fac7dde9d94d07a5c5bb2d41126342~mv2_d_1791_2394_s_2.webp","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.wixstatic.com\/media\/7a2274_49fac7dde9d94d07a5c5bb2d41126342~mv2_d_1791_2394_s_2.jpg\/v1\/fill\/w_749,h_998,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01\/7a2274_49fac7dde9d94d07a5c5bb2d41126342~mv2_d_1791_2394_s_2.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2516"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2519,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516\/revisions\/2519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xichuanpoetry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}