03/03 Reading Response - Sanjana Thakur

 Vandershelden, "Authority in Literary Translation"

• I found the beginning of the article very repetitive––over-expounding. 
• I appreciated the examples of how different specific authors work with their translators, but the writing in the article itself I thought was kind of stodgy. The language felt very academic in trying to write out fairly simple ideas and arguments. 
• Singer's quote about translators is hilarious! "All translators must be closely watched." 
• I really appreciated Milan Kundera's quote: "That is the error: every author of some value transgresses against "good style" and in that transgression lies the original (and hence the raison d'etre) of his art." When I've had stories published, I've definitely had editors try to take out my transgressions in a way that I feel takes away from my voice/style and so I do tend to push back. 
• I liked Borges' approach to his translations. Prioritising the quality of the translation in that language rather than faithfulness to the original. Perhaps that was Han Kang's priority too, with Deborah Smith!

Nabokov, "Letter to the American Translator"

• Loving all the Wellesley mentions! My alma mater. 
• Is it typical to always address letters with full names, even after correspondence has been established?
• That was a really fun read! Their relationship seems to be have been very cordial and fruitful.

Borges, "Pierre Menard"

• Irby's translation felt more playful and faster-paced. It's just slightly simpler more colloquial to our present times than Hurley's, and I think that worked well to balance the sort of grandiose, distanced tone and content of the literary review form. For example: "Most decidedly, a brief rectification is imperative" in Hurley vs. "Decidedly, a brief rectification is unavoidable" in Irby. 
• That being said, there are moments where I prefer Hurley's small choices: "The contrast in styles is equally striking", for example, over "The contrast in styles is also vivid." 'Also vivid' feels like a very weak phrase. 
• In a lot of ways, both translations are very like each other. Some of the more particular phrases are the same in both, like "History, the mother of truth" and "bizarrely pragmatic".