Feb 7 reading response - Audree

Ted Goosen Talk:

One point that I found interesting about Ted Goosen's talk was what he mentioned about the status of the translator. Indeed, in the U.S., we don't pay much attention to translators, often times their names are not on covers, nor are they especially easy to find within the book itself. I found it interesting how in Japan, apparently translators are much more visible and known. He mentioned a translator whose name I unfortunately forget, who was so well known that people would buy books not because they knew the author but because they knew the translator and admired his work. I also found it interesting how Goosen was so opposed to footnotes, and how much attention he pays to the readers experience while reading a novel. He doesn't want literature to feel analytical and academic, he is very mindful of how their eyes move across the page, and doesn't seem to want them to have to interrupt this flow of reading that is indeed quite enjoyable. 

James Wood Book Reviews: 

In Wood's review of "Nights of the Plague," he opens the review making it very clear that this author is not English speaking, and how the author's origins played a large role in the inspiration for the novel— because it is indeed a response to Western works and Western ways of thinking about "the East." By the second paragraph Wood explicitly notes that the work is translated. It is also interesting that the book itself deals a little bit with the idea of translation, as there is a Translation Bureau in the story, because of the fact that two languages are spoken in the book, Turkish and the invented language. 

In the review of "The Wall," the translated aspect of the work is mentioned in the second paragraph, and the translator's name is mentioned. There is also a comment on the quality of the translation by Wood, who says that it is "lucid." Translation and translators are also brought up when Wood talks about Haushofer's other works. The original titles of those books are mentioned in parentheses, and I wonder why he chose to include that and not the original title of the actual book he is reviewing. 

A Simple Soul

On the translation (Project Gutenberg)

- "thirty sous" --> the word "sou" is just a word to refer to money (kind of like "bucks" but a bit more formal). Usually it's used to refer to coins (as it is derived from the latin word for "piece of gold") but can be used to refer to paper money as well. Interesting that this wasn't translated, because it's not like a "sou" is the currency name like "franc." In the original French, the word used is "sol" which refers to the currency used under Louis XVI. It is interesting that Flaubert even used this term in the first place, but even more interesting that upon translating it, "sou" was the word that was chosen. Why not keep "sol" as they are both still french words? What makes "sou" a better choice? 

- At the beginning of chapter 2, "like every other woman, she had an affair of the heart" --> this is not present in the french and the translation puts an emphasis on the fact that she is a woman

- A half hour later --> in the original is 15 minutes later 

- "he called her son "thou"" --> doesn't really make sense in English, at least for the modern reader. In the French they speak of "tutoyer" which is to address someone in the second person singular, which is considered informal as opposed to referring to them in the second person plural which is formal, and usually used to address people you don't know, teachers etc... The use of "thou" makes it seem like she is calling him by a formal name rather than an informal one. 

Review of a translated work: The Stranger by Albert Camus

For my review I decided to pick Camus' "The Stranger," because it is a book whose title translated into English is debated. Indeed some translations prefer the title "The Outsider," because it is true that the word "étranger" in French does take on both of those meanings, but given the content of the book, "outsider" can seem to make a bit more sense. 

I read a few different reviews trying to search for at least one that mentioned translation and only found one on a website called eternalizedofficial.com by someone who published the article anonymously. They talk about the first sentence, a very famous first sentence whose translation is also hotly debated, particularly about the word "Maman" and how it should be translated. "Mother" or "mommy"? This person says that the french "Maman" is translated literally as "Mommy" which is an indication of the character's sensibility towards his mother. However, the word "maman" is not used only by children in french as it is in English. Almost everyone, regardless of age, will call their mothers "maman", and the more formal "mère" just sounds completely detatched and very strange. So while it is a choice on Camus' part to not use "mère", the understanding of it as "mommy" by this reviewer is, in my opinion, misleading.