Mar 27 Julia Sanches Talk, Peter Constantine Reading Response - Rose

         Julia Sanches was delightful! She covered numerous topics from general translation theory and metaphors to specific challenges she faced while translating, but I particularly enjoyed her slides on locality in translation. I think that some of her choices—particularly “skink”—were super fun and well-informed, and she seemed willing to help out up-and-coming translators. I liked her comment on there being “power in self-doubt” in translation, able to notice what’s missing from the translation if the image is clear only to the translator. I was touched that she remembered my name from the emails I sent her two years ago, and now I look forward to visiting her in Providence. Although I am still not a fan of some of her translation choices, I feel very inspired after her talk and am grateful that we got the chance to hear the way she thinks. 

I am not exactly sure how to describe this week’s reading; it was just strange. I think that my distaste has more to do with the story than the translation itself. I know that Peter did a great job in his translation because I ended up disliking all the characters. Informal, candid phrases like “I was floored” (19), “fucked-up” (20), and “real bad at school” (32) created a clear voice for the characters, specifically two boys who were belittling women and then having sporadic epiphanies about philosophy and God. The short sentences also made this a fast-paced read, and the twist at the end was unexpected. I am just confused as to the overall arc of the story, especially the time frame, but I assume the switches between past and present meant that the boys were recalling memories from their lives. Phrases like “was I also too young to rape her?” (65) and all the loaded comments about eating disorders created an uncomfortable story from the view of the perpetrator, so perhaps this would also be an interesting read for a women’s studies course. I have never read anything like this before, and I am still confused as to what the raven represents in this story, but overall, I think I just had no idea what to expect. I wish I had access to the source text, as well, but I hope that Peter embodied the characters of the German as well as I think he did in the English.