Reading Reflection for January 24th

I was quite struck by Jennifer Croft’s idea of the translator as an untrustworthy guide and how the publishing industry perpetuates this distrust. It is true in psychology that the more something goes unspoken or unexposed, the more misunderstanding occurs. I can see how the unnamed and unlauded translator becomes murky in the eyes of the reader. I agree with Croft in that part of the solution is in the approach. It’s clear from the other articles we read as well that the approach could use updating in a myriad of ways. This includes the issue brought up by Page-Fort of English-speaking audiences lacking exposure to foreign reads.

 

Through all the ideas collected from these articles I can’t help but connect the dots between an issue of publication and cultural paradigm. We’ve read a bit about the concept of direction in language from Bellos, and the idea of English as an “upward” language. I believe we can strike the problems discussed here to this cultural idea and how it allows for a sort of lazy approach to reading selections. English is everywhere so why reach? Globalization seems to have permeated most industries; it makes me wonder how much longer the literary translation world will escape its influence. Globalizing and the literary translation field seem a natural fit, it’s only by the furious upholding of old paradigms that the current structure is allowed to escape its effects.

-Cheyenne Bolt