Archive for May, 2011
5. When I was eight or nine years old, I became depressed by the realization that for the rest of my life I would never have anyone to talk to except other human beings. I wanted desperately to speak with animals or objects or anyone nonhuman who might have something interesting to say. So I [...]
3. My mother told me unambiguously: “Do not try to take it off the dresser. You’ll only end up breaking it.” “It” was a glass snow globe I’d gotten that same day. Just before bed, my mother let me hold it—but not shake it, for it was too big for my small hands—to see the [...]
While going through some old files this week, I came across a series of vignettes I wrote about ten years ago in the voice of a character called Benjamin Hermes. Each of them has to do with a childhood memory, a little moment of wonderment or loss. Over the next few days I’ll post some [...]
Speaking of the lost art of editing… The other day, a publishing friend of mine sent me the title page from a book she found on her boss’s shelf. (Look closely now. Or at least more closely than the editor did.) Also, here’s the pile of books I have to proofread this month:
After reading my post on “Translation as a Tool,” the art critic who commissioned my recent translation project sent me a link to a site created by an New York-based artist he works with. It serves as a fitting end to my short series on translation. If you let it run long enough (a couple [...]
In my last post, I argued that translation involves a form of deep reading that can improve your foreign language skills and your writing. In this post, I discuss a few practical examples as well as how “Translating from the Gibberish” serves as a metaphor for all human experience and expression. (I warned you it [...]
(and Some Tools for Translating…) Les traductions sont comme les femmes. Lorsqu’elles sont belles, elles ne sont pas fidèles, et lorsqu’elles sont fidèles elles ne sont pas belles. —Edmond Jaloux Over the past few weeks, I’ve been translating the catalog of an art exhibition organized by the Fondation Zervos at La Goulotte in Vézelay, France. [...]
