8 Literanı tratıslatioıı
. Let's not mince wmds. In some cases, raf.her than pay poorly, literary
The ııniqueness oflit�rary translation
Literary translation� at least in the English-speaking wotld, faces a diffi­
culty�at t1:x:tsorlginally writ�nin English do not:resislance bythe public
to �dinglitera�e in tr�lation. Thereis no need to belabor this point,so
evıdent to publishe.ts ın England, the United States, and the other
Anglo-Saxon nations. As Jorge lglesias has said, 'To know we are readip.g a
txanslationimplies a loss o� innocence.' This imposes a signifu:ant burden
on the translator to overcome, and to do so means· having a firm grasp on
prlnciples and teclıniques. . .
The anecdote in the Preface about Gregory Rabassa' s feelings before he
began traı:ısla.ting OneHundredYears ofSolitudeillustrates one of the unique
qualities that setli-terary translation apart .from al1 othe:r branches ot trans­
l�tion. Jn adclition lo a thorough mastery of the sou:rce language, the
lıterary translato.r must possess a profound knowledge of the target
language. In reallty, being m love with one or bqth Ianguages, if not an
absolute necesaity, is a tr.ait frequently found among the best and most
successfullitetary 1:ranslai:brs.Alifelonglove affair withwo.rds is one ofthe
qualities thatsets logophiles apart f.rom others- e.g., joumalists, publicists,
copywriters - who may make their living dealing with the written or
spoken word but whose attachment is often more ulilitarian -than the
translator's.
One of the most difficu1:t concepts about literary translation to convey to
those who have never serlously attemptedit-including practitioners in areas
such as technical and commercial translation -is that7ww one says something
can be as �po�t, so�etimes �ore important, than what one says.
Jn teclmical translation, for exam.ple, style is not a consideratfon so long
as the informational content makes its way unaltered from SL to TL. The
freight-trainanalogyisa useful one: in technical translation fhe order o.f the
cars is inconsequential if all the cargo aırives intact. Jn literary translation,
however, the otder of the cars - which is to say the style - can make the
diff��ce between � llvely, highly readable translation and a stilted, rlgid,.
_
and· artilıcial rendeong that strips the original of its artistic and aesthetk
essence, even its very soul. . I'.nı. not going there.
Now that we have established fhat literary transla-ti.on is the most
�emanding type oftransJation, a shortcligression. Why,Iam oftenasked,d�s
ıt pay less than the other b�anches? Shouldn't it be the other way around�
. translation pays not at all. (Unlike novels, most of the short stories I've
translated yielded not a cent.) And yet there Js no shortage of aspiring
translato.rs ready ıo take �e • plunge. Lite:rary trp.11Slators ate uşually
delighted to see theirwork in pı:int, and formany this is reward enough� No
exception to the law of supply and demand, litera:ry translation is under­
paid because so many are wil1ing to do it for sheer pleasure. Far compar­
ison, think o.f the vast nurnbers of people who paint and how few eam a
· living at it. Yet neither painters nor literary traxıslators are deterred from.
' thepursuit of their art.. Many literarytranslatQ:rs are academicians, with the.
language background, necessary free time, and income to devote them­
selves to the activity. (l'here'sno income in bixd-watching either, but the
pastime conti11ues to grow.) There are far more people willing, even eager,
to do literary translation than there areindividuals who will pay them to do
so., and outside the publishing world there is virtually na demand for
lltera:ry translation. The result7 As has been said before, if you're in literary
tı:anslation for the money, you picke� the wrong field. End of digression.
Consider şome of the capabilifies that the llterary translator must
co.mmand: tene, style, flexibility, invenfiveness., knowledge of the SL
cultw:e, the ability to glean meanhıg &om ambiguity, an ear for sonority,
and humility. v\g;ıy humility? "Because even our best efforts wm· never
suc:ceed in capturing in all its grandeur the rlclıness of the original. The
description.of translat;i.o.n attn"buted to Cervantes will always haunt 115: a
tapestryseenfromthewrongside.Ifweproduceatranslationthatapproxi­
mate.s the TL text ar stands asa literary work in-its own rlght, that is the
most that can be expected.
A simple SL phrase like Portuguese Nao vou lıi can be ıendered in a
variety of ways Jn English, from the highest grammatical registe.r exempli­
fying 'refined' speech to the solecisms usuaily associated in the public
mlnd with incomplete education and lower sodal status. Restricting
ours�ves only to subject-verb-complement order (there �e other, less
common possibilities: I go there not, there go I not, there l do not go, ete.),
each variant slightly alters the effect:
I do not go there.
I i:lon't go there.
I am not going theı:e.
. I shall not go there.
I shan't go there.
I wiil not go there.