Reflections 4/25

     I really appreciated that Joanna Trzeciak Huss was open to showing us her works in progress, and open to questions/opinions from the audience. She was so sweet and seems like a curious, intelligent, open-minded translator. In particular, I thought her translation of the "burning hands" Polish idiom into English as "many hands make light work" was genius, and definitely my favorite choice out of the other four (which were stuck on keeping the burning aspect, which just doesn't make sense translate literally). However, the line crossing-out and added notes that she was going to publish with her translations seems like a bad idea, in my opinion. I think this would only be beneficial to other translators, and it may turn readers off from reading translations (even more so than they already are) because there is too much going on/it is too difficult to read. 

    Revenge of the Translator was not my favorite read. I think the concept behind the book is too kitschy for my taste, and it's something I'd never pick up off a shelf in my spare time. I thought it was well-written, and the moments that made me think about the translator's creative control over the source text (and therefore how he's responsible for the perception of the source text in the eyes of thousands of readers from another language) were extra valuable to me. It's just that the reading experience was a 1/5 for me; there is a lack of flow, and a constant sense of starting-and-stopping that drives me a little crazy, but that *is* the book's premise, so how can I complain about it? :')

    On the flip side, I loved In Concrete! The voice is so witty and fun, and I was smiling through a big portion of the first 50 pages. I am so impressed with the translation, as well, and how Emma Ramadan plays with words and sounds. "It's all a bladder of time", "wasn't being fuelish" (foolish), "premuddernization", "no grout about it". Ramadan seems like she'd be a clever, funny, creative genius of a person to have come up with such a masterful translation. It was awesome! I also loved the dynamics between the main character and Poulette, because I have three sisters, and their relationship was nostalgic and sweet to read. 

 Sarah