Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets
I have been actively translating for about twenty years. Looking back, I now realize that it made translation easier when I tried to ‘become’ the original writer: I was more successful when I asked myself, “what would they have written if they had had my knowledge of English?” and, for poetry, when...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta
2011-02-01
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| Series: | TranscUlturAl |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/tc/index.php/TC/article/view/8900 |
| _version_ | 1819118161510793216 |
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| author | Tom Priestly |
| author_facet | Tom Priestly |
| author_sort | Tom Priestly |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | I have been actively translating for about twenty years. Looking back, I now realize that it made translation easier when I tried to ‘become’ the original writer: I was more successful when I asked myself, “what would they have written if they had had my knowledge of English?” and, for poetry, when faced with the clash between the demands of form and content, “which way would they bend?’
Rather than attempt any theorizing, I propose to relate my efforts to get under the skin of a number of poets, for example: one, surviving the siege of Leningrad; another, pioneering multiple poetic genres in early 19th-century Central Europe; a third who (successfully? I am not sure) aimed to capture the horror of a Nazi atrocity in Vienna; a fourth who became the most popular author of Slovene poetry for children by temporarily shedding his own adulthood. Also, I will add my recent attempts to capture, in Slovene, the style of children in war-torn Northern Uganda who are writing to the sponsors who are paying their school fees in a charming but not always clear fractured English (which they are just learning): is it possible, is it expedient to pretend to be such a child in order to transfer their thoughts into Slovene?
It certainly helps to have been a teacher. Teachers are, I believe, better teachers if they can act the roles of others, and translators can perhaps be better translators if they can ‘become’ other people. Anyway, it makes for a more interesting life. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T05:44:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6fc9f1c70a8d462eb204c9e52352869c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1920-0323 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T05:44:29Z |
| publishDate | 2011-02-01 |
| publisher | Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta |
| record_format | Article |
| series | TranscUlturAl |
| spelling | doaj.art-6fc9f1c70a8d462eb204c9e52352869c2022-12-21T18:37:05ZengDepartment of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of AlbertaTranscUlturAl1920-03232011-02-0114769010.21992/T9G0448900Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of PoetsTom Priestly0University of AlbertaI have been actively translating for about twenty years. Looking back, I now realize that it made translation easier when I tried to ‘become’ the original writer: I was more successful when I asked myself, “what would they have written if they had had my knowledge of English?” and, for poetry, when faced with the clash between the demands of form and content, “which way would they bend?’ Rather than attempt any theorizing, I propose to relate my efforts to get under the skin of a number of poets, for example: one, surviving the siege of Leningrad; another, pioneering multiple poetic genres in early 19th-century Central Europe; a third who (successfully? I am not sure) aimed to capture the horror of a Nazi atrocity in Vienna; a fourth who became the most popular author of Slovene poetry for children by temporarily shedding his own adulthood. Also, I will add my recent attempts to capture, in Slovene, the style of children in war-torn Northern Uganda who are writing to the sponsors who are paying their school fees in a charming but not always clear fractured English (which they are just learning): is it possible, is it expedient to pretend to be such a child in order to transfer their thoughts into Slovene? It certainly helps to have been a teacher. Teachers are, I believe, better teachers if they can act the roles of others, and translators can perhaps be better translators if they can ‘become’ other people. Anyway, it makes for a more interesting life.https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/tc/index.php/TC/article/view/8900anna akhmatovafrancè prešerenjanko messnerkajetan kovič |
| spellingShingle | Tom Priestly Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets TranscUlturAl anna akhmatova francè prešeren janko messner kajetan kovič |
| title | Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets |
| title_full | Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets |
| title_fullStr | Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets |
| title_short | Multiple im/person/aliz/ations: Four Attempts to 'get under the skin' of Poets |
| title_sort | multiple im person aliz ations four attempts to get under the skin of poets |
| topic | anna akhmatova francè prešeren janko messner kajetan kovič |
| url | https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/tc/index.php/TC/article/view/8900 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tompriestly multipleimpersonalizationsfourattemptstogetundertheskinofpoets |