Mark -- as editor I guess I have always gone out and asked for specific
translations from specific translators I knew and trusted -- and then
wld correct typos but not meddle with the translation per se. For
example, for my latest Celan, I wanted a new translation of ENGFUHRUNG,
and so I asked Robert Kelly, whose sense of the poem & whose language
abilities I trust completely. So I guess in my limited experience, I
haven't had to do what you seem to need to do. But I agree that if I
came across any such mistake as you point out in Quijote or Jacob, I
would of course point it out. -- Pierre
On Apr 24, 2005, at 12:08 AM, Mark Weiss wrote:
> As an editor my name is also on the publication, and I do feel
> responsibility for what I publish. Much of what I edit or translate is
> otherwise unavailable to readers who can't read the source language,
> so I
> also have a responsibility to the original poet. But I should have
> said "as
> actively as I think the text needs."
>
> I agree that the truly ghastly can't be saved. But the truly ghastly
> needn't be published if the editor actually reads it with an editor's
> eye.
> And the good can often be helped. It might have been nice if some
> editor
> had pointed out the mistake Edith Grossman made in the first sentence
> of
> her excellent Don Quijote translation. Or do you think that would have
> been
> overstepping? How about the book I'm reading at the moment, translated
> from
> the Russian, in which the directions of northerly and swoutherly winds
> appear to be confused? Or a book that I published with a serious
> mistake in
> the translation of a title that got by me. Or a translation of my own
> that
> went to press with "huella" carelessly translated as "footstep" when it
> should have been "footprint?" Or a book of Max Jacob translations from
> a
> university press in which "rez-de-chausee " is translated as second
> floor
> and "le mort" and "la morte" are confused?" Or the many otherwise
> excellent
> translations by others that I've published in which the translator was
> missing a piece of information about the source culture and
> mistranslated
> accordingly? Why would anyone be less than grateful in these
> situations?
> And wouldn't an editor who didn't point these out be simply
> irresponsible?
>
> Do you feel the same way about the translations of others that you
> publish--nary a word ever?
>
> Mark
>
>
> At 10:04 PM 4/23/2005, you wrote:
>> On Apr 23, 2005, at 12:08 PM, Mark Weiss wrote:
>>
>>> When I ask a translator to do work for me I always make clear that
>>> I'll be editing actively. I don't know how anybody manages to produce
>>> decent translations consistently without editing, but translations
>>> are
>>> almost never edited, and most translations in print are pretty
>>> ghastly
>>> as a result.
>>
>> Mark -- for once, I must disagree utterly: as far as I am concerned,
>> my
>> translations go out the same way as my poems do: tel quel -- as is, &
>> I'll have them printed thus or not at all. The editing is what I spend
>> most of my time doing in both roles, so once I see the work as ready,
>> that's it (even if years later I may rework some of it myself). Nor
>> do
>> i think that editing will make a ghastly translation good -- laborious
>> &/or journeyman-like, maybe, but I'd rather start from scratch in
>> that
>> case. -- Pierre
>>
>> =================================================
>> "Lyric poetry has to be exorbitant or not at all." -- Gottfried Benn
>> =================================================
>> For updates on readings, etc. check my current events page:
>> http://albany.edu/~joris/CurrentEvents.html
>> =================================================
>> Pierre Joris
>> 244 Elm Street
>> Albany NY 12202
>> h: 518 426 0433
>> c: 518 225 7123
>> o: 518 442 40 85
>> email: [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.albany.edu/~joris/
>> =================================================
>
>
=================================================
"Lyric poetry has to be exorbitant or not at all." -- Gottfried Benn
=================================================
For updates on readings, etc. check my current events page:
http://albany.edu/~joris/CurrentEvents.html
=================================================
Pierre Joris
244 Elm Street
Albany NY 12202
h: 518 426 0433
c: 518 225 7123
o: 518 442 40 85
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.albany.edu/~joris/
=================================================
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