3/18 Readings - Kevin Hauger

The Art of Losing: Polish Poetry and Tranlsation

I loved reading this essay. It seems impossible for anyone to talk about translation without developing a metaphor, and Cavanagh's have been among my favorites that we've encountered, I think because of their embrace of effortful failure.

I worry I've come across as crotchety this semester when talking about literal translation. I think what moves me the most when someone talks about their translation work is a display of deep engagement and care, and some of the metaphors we've encountered feel to me like elaborate evasions of effort (though I'm probably being unjust). What I like about Cavanagh's essay is how it addresses directly both the inherent failures of translation and the importance of earnest engagement with language.

Wislawa Szymborska's Translators Talk About the Poet 

"It was poetry that was as if made to be translated." 

This is both a wonderful compliment of Szymborska's poetry and a complicated statement in the context of this class. I wonder what everyone thinks: what makes a person's poetry ideal for translation? Can the sense of a poem be as universally understandable as this implies?

Metaphors, women and translation

I enjoyed section 4 of this paper a lot. The survey of non-sexual metaphors that have gained popularity was cool, and the metaphors seem very productive as ways of approaching the work of translation.