Brian Nelson's Translator's Note
My thoughts so far are very aligned with Nelson's attitude toward translation: "Successful translation of Proust is achieved...by making him sound like Proust." I'm not sure how much weight to give to the idea of "foreignization" because it feels foreignizing to assume that there is a correct or incorrect literary mode in each language that needs to be translated from one correct mode to another; it limits an author's voice to one concept of the language they write in.
Translating Proust
I appreciated Hazzard's insight into the ongoing and charged conversation around translations of Proust, which I hadn't been aware of. I've also felt the urge to translate differently than the translations we've read, and I wonder about how much the impulse to differ should be tempered depending on the context of the translation: will it be a new edition for a major publisher? Or is it envisioned as So-and-So's personal translation? Is there still a place for works like Pound's Cathay, or have the standards changed far beyond that in the past century?
Loaf or Hot-Water Bottle
I found Davis' coverage of her own methods awesome to read. I'm sure she's not the only translator we've read who works so rigorously, but I don't think other notes have been so extensive and detailed. Her blend of systematized rules and deep research seems like an effective way of distancing ego from the project, and I like that she used the Moncrieff as reference material, but not as its own source text to which one must adhere.
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