Q&A …

… On Criticizing Translation: An Interview with Tim Parks - Asymptote Blog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

It’s a whole other problem when you’re asked to comment on, say, a re-translation of a classic work from a language you know, particularly if you find a whole raft of embarrassing mistakes, and even more so if translation has been lavishly praised by folks with famous names in order to provide promotional blurbs. This was the situation with a major retranslation from the Italian that I recently reviewed in an American magazine. There were many, many mistakes, some of them crucial in altering the sense of the text, and none of them, funnily enough, present in the earlier translation of the same work. It really is hard to know what to say in these cases, since one doesn’t want to fall out with the publishers who have taken a brave decision to invest in a retranslation, and one nevertheless wants people to read the book, which is a good book despite the shortcomings of the translation. On the other hand, there’s a duty of honesty, otherwise why is one reviewing at all? Certainly I don’t think you do the literary world any favors covering these things up.