"Books are the carriers of civilization.
Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and
speculation at a standstill." -Barbara Tuchman
And without translated literature, the view of history and the art of literature would be very one sided. What better way to learn or understand a new or far away culture than through the entertainment of a good story? Translated literature provides insight into cultures and people from their world perspective. Unfortunately, more than half of literature translations are from English, while less than 3% are translated from other languages to English. Many factors contribute to this disparity: little market demand in English speaking countries and censorship of writers and their works.
This blog endeavors to generate interest in translated literature, specifically literature translated into English, through book reviews of translated works, comparisons to English classics, and author and translator profiles.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Carriers of Civilization
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3 comments:
It is totally Dorthy Sayers!! I like your quotes they are very deep.
Without translations like "Lost Victories" by Erich von Manstein we would never know what it was like to be an officer in Hitler's army. What true evil was in Hitler's rise to power as described by Konrad Heiden in "Der Fuerhrer"
Dorothy Sayers is correct! Her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy, initiated as the Nazis instituted their nightly destruction of London, is often credited as being the best translation of the work in English. She strove to keep Dante's rhythm and rhyming pattern throughout the translation, thus a dynamic equivalent translation.
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