James Wood Reading Response - Audree

 James Wood Talk 

    Although Wood is not a translator himself, his attention to detail when speaking about the translations of Madame Bovary was very insightful as to how translation can change not just the meaning of a sentence, but also the feeling that one gets when reading it. As a reviewer, and a fan of Flaubert, Wood noticed things in the different translations that I would not have. I found the discussion surrounding the repeated endings in "ait" to be particularly interesting. While Davis' translation attempted to recreate this repetition using "would" others abandoned it completely. The passage about Monsieur Bovary relishing the thought of having a child as well as the passage about the bailiff's clerk were two others that I really enjoyed dissecting. Wood's enthusiasm about Flaubert and his knowledge about his writing style really added to the analysis and helped me understand how knowledge of an author's intentions can play a role in a translator's decision. The talk also made me want to re-read the book, as I first read it in school when I was a young teenager, and definitely did not a appreciate it nearly as much!

Translation, Globalization and English 

    I found that this reading had many similarities with some of the points that Ken Liu made in his talk. In this text, Allen talks about how the English language has imposed itself as the "sole mode of globalization" and how if a book is written in English, that book is then opening itself up not only to native English speakers but also to an almost equal number of people who speak it as a second language and who are English language learners. It reminded me of how Liu talked about the "language of modernity" being English, and how in order to have access to modernity, and in this case to globalization, one must know some English. Allen makes a good point at highlighting how, in order for something to be considered a piece of world literature, it most of time has had to have been translated into English. This begs the question of wether or not we can still call it world literature. 

Why Do Americans Read so Few Books in Translation? 

    The author points out how countries like Germany and Austria have cultural institutes that are government funded specifically for the purpose of cultural exchange, and suggests that a similar model be adapted to the U.S. She talks of cultural influence as "formal foreign policy" in these countries. 

Interview with Chad Post 

    The suggestions that Post has for making translations more read in the U.S. were interesting ones, but they were very much focused on the publishing industry (which makes sense because it is the industry he is in and can realistically effect) but I think that a lot of change can come from education and forming people's reading habits young. Similarly to what Ken Liu said, there is this regard for what is considered to be "high" literature, and many times, world literature is not considered in that category, especially not contemporary world literature. I think that a lot of this perception is formed during the developing years in middle and high school, and so education is a crucial part of increasing the amount of translations that Americans read.